


Gabriel, Get Me Out of This

by Copperplate Scribe (theregoesmyfearow)



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, Soup, song references for titles, training practice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-09
Updated: 2017-07-18
Packaged: 2018-08-30 02:04:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 27,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8514433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theregoesmyfearow/pseuds/Copperplate%20Scribe
Summary: Jesse McCree is called to help Overwatch reform. Some others are called as well, for various reasons. One doesn't seem like he wants to be there, but shows skills that point towards a reason for him being there. Meanwhile, everything's going to shit.





	1. Cleanup Efforts

**Author's Note:**

> Everything's going to shit. The title is based on the song "Lawyers, Guns, and Money" - both the original by Warren Zevon and the cover by The Wallflowers.

So the rumors were true. Everyone was getting back together. There were even some new faces. Getting acquainted would have to happen at some point. It was back at Watchpoint Gibraltar that Jesse McCree noticed this. It seemed as if a shaky truce was commencing between what used to be Overwatch and what was at some point Blackwatch.

Winston had called everyone back and was therefore declared the leader. It was all fine and dandy, so long as nobody would start fighting. If tension broke out and turned to violence, everyone would face hefty consequences. Sure, not everyone showed up, but those who had showed up were ready to fight.

 

Watchpoint Gibraltar was strange. It had plenty of sunshine and nice weather, but it was set up on a rock in the middle of the ocean. With the attack launched by Talon, having the base occupied properly would potentially keep it safe… or lead to everyone being eliminated at once.

But there were temporary quarters set up. People just started using old offices as bedrooms. Sure, some were off-limits. But for the most part, if Winston wasn’t using it for something, and it wasn’t destroyed to the point of being dangerous, it was free for the taking.

There was a hall of offices where Jesse had taken his corner one. He was amused by the idea of himself actually being in an office. He just knew that businessmen liked having corner offices for some reason. Made sense. After all, the wall happened to be on the side of the base that had windows. Jesse’s corner room had two windows. All the better to keep an eye out, or of course bask in the sunshine like a reptile on a hot rock.

 

It wasn’t long after the new recruits arrived that the room directly across the hall from Jesse’s became occupied. He hadn’t really seen which new face was the occupant, but he’d walked past on a couple of occasions to see the door open a crack. Once it was open far enough to reveal that instead of a cot, the person who’d taken it had put a cot’s mattress on the floor. Whoever it was had to be sure strange.

Jesse had at least greeted everyone who was new… except a man with a strange outfit and a huge tattoo. It would be just about impossible to not notice ink like that. The man spent a lot of time in an area that had been used for training. Jesse watched quietly one day as the man hit robotic targets with a bow and arrow. It was definitely impressive. He had to acknowledge the man’s skill and how he was able to move swiftly but silently. Such a person would make a wonderful agent. That had to be why the guy was called, right? There were rumors that this guy didn’t talk to anyone. But apparently that was about to change. Jesse was noticed as he was standing near the door. The man with the bow and arrow was walking towards the door, and the two came face to face.

A tip of the hat didn’t seem to get a good response. As the mysterious man walked away, Jesse shouted after him. 

 

“Hey! The name’s McCree! What about you?”

The archer turned around and nodded. 

 

“Call me Hanzo. I am… pleased to make your acquaintance, but I must be going now.”

“I should get moving also. Maybe we’ll bump into each other later.”

 

Jesse took the scenic route back to his room. The kitchen beckoned, but didn’t offer any quick snacks. When he got back to the office-turned-bedroom, Jesse heard a familiar voice.

 

“This is your room across the hall, McCree?”

“Oh, howdy! Jeez, Hanzo, didn’t think we’d meet again so soon.”

“So you’re the one who leaves his door open to show off his mess.”

“And you’re the quiet neighbor I never met.”

“You listen to me, McCree. Just because we work together does not make us friends.”

“Never said it did. But golly, if you’re not a feisty one.”

 

It was time to go back to that mess, as Hanzo had called it. What a snarky fellow. Of course, it wasn’t as if Jesse couldn’t match that easily. Usually the old outlaw charm could win over a few allies, if not admirers. To be shot down so quickly was a new concept. It was as if Hanzo was as cold blooded as the dragon on his tattoo.

But that didn’t matter. What mattered was getting oneself together and ready for the next mission. It was going to be a reconnaissance one, as someone had to figure out where that Talon organization was going to show up next. It seemed they wanted strong weapons- well so did pretty much everyone else. The problem was that they knew tricks that were formerly only used by Blackwatch. But of course, that made sense, didn’t it? Some people had to have crossed over into truly dark territory after everything fell apart. Jesse remembered running into those goons- one had found him to be familiar. Either someone had recognized him from wanted posters or they were formerly a member of Blackwatch. 

And then there were the theories that Gabriel Reyes was among them. Jesse was damn sure that Gabriel was dead. Then again, he was damn sure Ana was dead, and unless it was all a hallucination she was lurking around the Watchpoint. And what about Jack Morrison? He was supposedly dead, but someone suspiciously similar to him was stomping around, causing problems. But Gabriel? Oh no, no no no. Just because Gabriel had fought with Jack didn’t mean- it couldn’t mean he had switched over to Talon. 

 

But if Talon was using Blackwatch’s tactics, it meant they would screw up at some point and be predictable. Jesse was going to be a huge asset to the newly reformed Overwatch team, and he was going to prove it. In the meantime, it would be wise to keep up with training and be ready for when the opportune moment would strike.

 

Training was target practice as usual. Shooting with impeccable aim, and then getting some trick shots in just to stay sharp. Jesse didn’t need an audience to show off to. It was enough to know that he still had the talent. 

However, there was an eerie feeling Jesse couldn’t shake. It felt as if someone was watching him, but every time he turned around there was nothing. The target practice continued. Moving targets were fun to work on, especially the ones programmed to have erratic movements. One had to think less than a second ahead to hit those. It made trick shots that much more impressive.

Soon, the feeling came back. Jesse froze. He regained composure quickly and reloaded his pistol. He fanned the hammer of it to unload all six shots quickly into a small circle right in the center of the target. But then, the source of the eerie feeling revealed themselves… to a point.

 

“Oh, but you missed the bullseye there.”

“Show yourself!”

 

Whoever it was happened to be standing at a higher section of the area. The person stepped forward.

 

“Genji? What are you doing here?”

“I was going to practice, actually. But you were here.”

“Shucks, you could have asked me to get out of the way.”

“It was entertaining watching you shoot.”

“Thanks?”

“By the way, I heard you had a run-in with my brother. He told me his neighbor across the hall was a slob, and I know that’s your room.”

“What?”

“Well, McCree, I should get going. I was going to ask Mercy about something.”

“Genji, I have questions.”

 

But Genji left just as quickly as he’d appeared. It made sense, considering the guy was a top-notch assassin. But what? Brother? It wasn’t too far-fetched. A graceful man with a steady aim. That description would easily fit Genji as well. But really? Hanzo was Genji’s brother? Then again Jesse had never actually seen what Genji looked like under that metal mask. Jesse was also pretty sure he didn’t want to see. But oh well, people learn new things every day. 

But apparently Hanzo was still sore about the mess. For the next couple of days, Jesse just kept his door shut. It worked until he happened to be going back to his room at the exact point Hanzo was leaving his. 

 

“You haven’t cleaned it?”

“Oh. Greetings, Hanzo. Fancy seeing you around.”

“I’m sure it is, McCree. You should clean your room, though. I can only see a tiny bit of it and it is an eyesore.”

“Make me.”

“Are you testing me? Trust me, I would make quick work of you.”

“Uh, Hanzo, maybe dial it back just a tad.”

“What?”

“I mean, you’re being hard to read right now. What kind of response do I give here?”

“McCree, clean your damn room.”

“You picked the room across the hall. This is your fault, really.”

“McCree!”

“Why the hell do you care? You’re not coming over to visit! Tell you what. I’ll spruce up the ol’ bachelor pad if you pay me a nice visit.”

“Fine. If it will grant me an ounce of peace, I will visit you. But you must clean first.”

“It’s a d-deal.”

 

Jesse walked through his door and slammed it behind him. He leaned against the door and slid down until he was sitting on the floor. The admiration for Hanzo’s skills had turned to something a little more. Perhaps it was the barely contained rage. Perhaps it was the fact that Hanzo was hard to read- for a second, what he was saying could almost be interpreted as flirting. Then again, it was Jesse’s fault for saying ‘make me’ in the first place. But his mouth went faster than his brain could formulate a script to follow. The charm poured out almost on its own.

That wasn’t the biggest issue, however. Jesse had almost said ‘date’. Of course, it was believable. After all, what about how great Hanzo was with his bow? Something that seemed so antiquated, yet he was able to make it worth using. Jesse couldn’t help overanalyzing the whole situation. Was it really just the talent that had made him keep watching? Was there something more?

Well, there was the impeccable aim. Of course, that could be easily written off as a sharpshooter recognizing someone else’s talents. There was Hanzo’s dragon tattoo that snaked along his muscled arm. There was the way Hanzo would stare all stone-faced but with angry eyes when offended about a disorganized room. The little bits of grey hair at Hanzo’s temples that made him look wise and that smart kind of handsome that usually required glasses to pull off-

 

Jesse almost slapped himself in the face with his metal prosthetic hand. He was lucky to catch himself before he could give himself a broken nose. And whose fault was that? There wasn’t any justice in blaming someone for being attractive and good at what they did. Jesse had to just accept that it was entirely his fault that he definitely had a thing for his neighbor across the hall who probably hated him. The one who gossipped to his brother about the messy room. The same one who was probably going to gossip to said brother about the room-cleaning deal. Well, that left two tasks. One was to get the room organized and cleaned up. The second was to try to avoid Genji just in case.

 

The next day, Jesse spent a couple of hours straightening up. The office he’d taken for a bedroom had been abandoned with stuff sitting around anyway, and that stuff got shoved in the desk in the corner. A couple of chairs in the room were rearranged near a rug that Jesse took outside to shake out. His cot was shoved against a wall and out of the way. The little bit of luggage he’d had was stashed underneath the cot. The room looked somewhat presentable. The only thing dirty about it was the dust that hadn’t really been cleared too well in the first place. All of the windows were opened and Jesse started dusting everything off with his right hand. He realized a little too late that wiping his hand on his pants was a bad idea. After a couple of minutes, Jesse had gotten most of the dust off his pants and decided it was time to go find a snack in the kitchen. After making a sandwich, Jesse took it back to his room. He found Hanzo waiting outside the door.

 

“Oh. You want half this sandwich?”

“No, thank you. I came to see if you were ready for me to visit.”

“Yeah, I cleaned today. Got the place spick and span.”

“Does that mean you will invite me in?”

“Oh, of course. Let me get the door for you.”

 

Jesse opened the door and motioned for Hanzo to go in. He watched as Hanzo looked around the room, not once smiling. All that hard work, and did it pay off? Probably not.

 

“Please, sit down.”

“Thank you. I see that for someone so rough, you can be a gentleman.”

“Oh, Hanzo. Believe me, I have some class.”

“I am pleasantly surprised.”

“So I’m surprisingly pleasant?”

“Don’t push it, McCree.”

“Or you’ll make short work of me?”

“Alright. You cleaned your room. I came to visit. Do you wish for more pleasantries?”

“Nah, what I want is for us to get along. We gotta work together, we oughtta be able to get along.”

“I can get along with others just fine.”

“Oh, I’m sure. Look, you turned the slob across the hall into a neat and tidy gentleman. There’s something you can tell ol’ Silent But Deadly.”

Jesse smirked after making his comment. Hanzo just stared. He seemed to have gotten the hint. But instead of seeing himself out, Hanzo just sat there. Jesse stepped back and just kept going until he almost fell onto his cot. He’d done it. That dragon of a man was likely incredibly pissed. Obviously alluding to having talked to Genji was a bad idea. But there was still a way to save the situation. Or at least, there had to be a way.

  
  


“Look, Hanzo, I’m sorry. Whatever is going on isn’t any of my business. I just well, I had found out you were talking about me, and I hope from here on out if you feel the need to talk about me that it’s something good.”

“I. I don’t know. You did something you obviously would never do just to get me to leave you alone. And yet you invited me over, which tells me you do not want to be left alone. 

  
Jesse stared. He never wanted to be left alone in the first place. He just wanted peace between teammates.


	2. At Soup

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some answers only lead to more questions. Some dragons just need to blow off steam before they'll calm down. Other dragons seem calm and tranquil but are still as stubborn as ever. And sometimes the doctor knows best.

It was a few days since Hanzo had come to visit. Jesse used so much of his free time thinking about how he’d just clammed up and Hanzo had left. It was on his way to training practice that Jesse almost walked into Mercy when he turned the corner.

 

“Excuse me, Doctor.”

“McCree. Don’t cut corners. By the way, how is your arm?”

“My arm? Never better?”

“No problems with the cybernetics?”

“None that I can tell. Works like a charm. Believe me, if I needed anything, I’d say something.”

“Good, good. By the way, have you seen Genji around?”

“Can’t say that I have. Not today, at least. Can I ask why?”

“Please just remind him to stay away from the soup. I do not trust that he will listen to me.”

 

With that, Mercy walked away. Jesse opened his mouth to speak before closing it again. Genji in general just raised so many questions. But this one took the cake. Fortunately, it wasn’t long before Jesse got an answer. Unfortunately for him, it wasn’t exactly a good answer.

Genji was doing training practice already, and there was something off about his mask. Jesse couldn’t see from far away, but it looked like there was something stuck to the mask. Jesse went to practice on some bullseyes, but it seemed that the sound of his Peacekeeper going off attracted Genji.

 

“So I find you here again, McCree.”

“Howdy. By the way, Genji. You got something uh.”

“What?”

“You have something stuck. Like it’s in a crevice on your mask or something.”

“McCree, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You want me to uh, peel it off?”

“If you are sure there is something wrong, then fix it.”

 

Jesse reached gingerly for the long piece of something that was hanging from Genji’s mask. He was thinking that it resembled a thick spaghetti noodle. Upon accidentally squishing it in between his thumb and pointer fingers, Jesse determined that it was indeed some kind of noodle. So that’s what Mercy was going on about.

 

“Genji, I ran into Mercy-”

“No soup.”

“I see it’s a little late for me to tell you.”

“Hanzo made udon soup. I knew he would. I couldn’t stay away.”

“And?”

“It was a mistake. Zenyatta would have gently reminded me that careful thought would have prevented this blunder, but alas. I have been bested by soup of all things.”

“Genji, can you eat anything?”

“No. Therefore I was spitting it out in the garbage can in the kitchen. Hanzo was not pleased. If you catch him, he might be making himself a new pot of udon.”

Jesse dropped the noodle and started wiping his hand on his pants. He suddenly realized where that noodle had been, and he didn’t want to think about that too hard. That was just plain horrible.

 

Jesse mumbled a quick goodbye to Genji and hurried for a bathroom to wash his hands. It took washing his hands three times for the gross feeling to go away. The thought occurred that maybe, just maybe investigating the kitchen might be a good idea. Just to make sure everything was fine.

 

Everything was not fine. Hanzo was standing by the stove, muttering something that was probably curses. Jesse stood in the doorway and leaned on the door’s frame. He knocked a couple of times with his left hand to announce his arrival. Hanzo didn’t even turn around. Jesse knocked again. Instead of turning around, Hanzo spoke while working on cooking.

 

“McCree.”

“Hanzo. So uh, I heard you were cooking something.”

“I had acquired ingredients for three batches of udon soup. I am down to sufficient ingredients for one batch after the one I am currently making.”

“And how much soup does each batch make?”

“Enough for two people. I was hoping to have leftovers.”

“So you’re uh, makin’ two batches then, if I got the math correct?”

“I did not wish to make two batches of soup. But while I was serving myself a bowl, a mess was made of it.”

“What, you burn yourself?”

“No! It is because my- because Genji was too impatient!”

 

Jesse put both of his hands up instinctively. If he hadn’t been standing in the doorway, he would have backed up further. Hanzo finally turned around. Jesse tried to make the situation better.

 

“Whoa, there, pardner. Only askin’. If it was a burn, I was gonna volunteer first aid. I’m at least qualified to take care of minor burns.”

“You do not understand. I knew Genji was in the kitchen. He grabbed the bowl and spilled the broth everywhere to begin with. Then he took off his mask and tried to slurp up the noodles. Damned fool must have realized he could no longer eat. I’d advise not checking the trash.”

“Hanzo, I-”

“Enough. I have had enough of this. That robotic man, that- that small remnant of Genji in a metal shell, he should not have had them invite me. And I should not have come.”

“I was just about to ask if I could help in any way, or if I could just share the kitchen for a bit in order to make myself something to eat.”

 

There was a few moments of silence. Jesse watched as Hanzo served up another bowl of udon soup. There was definitely some anger still pent up. That much was obvious. But what wasn’t obvious was why Hanzo hadn’t gone and taken it out on a punching bag or something. Then again Jesse had to only hit the punching bags in the training area with his right hand. There was a discarded one on the floor of the training area that had been hit too hard with a metal fist.

But why two bowls? One to put in the refrigerator? Jesse wasn’t entirely sure it wouldn’t get eaten before Hanzo could get to it.

 

“McCree. If you wish to help, then eat this soup with me. Just take a bowl. If I intend to leave, then I should cook what ingredients I have as quickly as possible so they don’t spoil before I have a chance to get to them.”

“Hanzo, you don’t have to-”

“Listen to me. I don’t know why you insist on trying to befriend me. I have heard that you try to befriend everyone, but you are spending too much effort on me. I am not worthy of it.”

“You can call me ‘Jesse’. I mean it.”

 “McCree-”

“Hanzo. We can be on first name basis. You can be the only one on the watchpoint that actually calls me by my first name. Thank you for the soup, by the way. That’s real kind of you.”

 

Jesse sat down and sampled the soup. He had taken a spoon from a drawer, but the noodles just fell off. So he tasted the broth. Delicious. The soup was still piping hot, enough to make Jesse feel very warm inside. The warmth was so soothing, it almost made him forget that Hanzo had just said something about leaving. Almost.

 

“Jesse. You’re not supposed to smash the noodles to bits.”

“I can’t scoop them up. Hanzo, don’t leave, okay?”

“What? I don’t belong here.”

“Look, I saw you practicing. You have a lot of skill, we need someone-”

“Whatever silly reason Genji had me invited, I want no part of it.”

“We need someone with your talents. And really, the fact that Genji risked damaging himself to spend time with you-”

“What?”

“I mean, I had to pull a spit-up noodle off of his mask. I don’t know anything about how delicate his robot parts are but I don’t think eating’s good for them. But he tried anyway. Said he couldn’t resist.”

 

Hanzo slammed his hand down onto the table. Jesse backed his chair up just in case he’d have to leave suddenly. After a moment, Hanzo seemed to calm down a little and went back to eating. So Jesse resumed eating as well. The damned noodles just wouldn’t stay on the spoon. It was far easier to just cut them with the spoon against the side of the bowl, like cutting spaghetti with the side of a fork. It also minimized the amount of soup that one could get stuck in facial hair. Jesse had that one figured out finally, and he wasn’t going to make a fool of himself that easily. Except it didn’t seem to be working in his favor.

 

“McCree! There are chopsticks in front of you!”

“Huh? Oh. Y’know, I’m not sure I ever learned how to use those.”

“I’ll show you.”

“That’d be mighty kind of you.”

 

Hanzo demonstrated with his own pair of chopsticks. He then gestured for Jesse to try. Jesse couldn’t even hold the chopsticks correctly. Hanzo grabbed Jesse’s hand and positioned the sticks properly before trying to guide Jesse’s hand along.

 

Jesse instead got flustered and dropped the chopsticks. He turned to look at Hanzo and was going to open his mouth to ask if he could just get a damn fork-

 

-and noticed that Hanzo’s stare wasn’t at all a hostile one. Jesse looked down. Hanzo’s hand was still against his, gently holding his hand in a position that if he’d still been holding the chopsticks, would be able to make eating the soup a lot easier.

Jesse was definitely too warm at that point. His face even felt toasty, so he pulled his hand away and started unwrapping his serape from around his shoulders. He muttered something about the temperature in the building being unreliable. By the time Jesse had settled back down, he realized Hanzo was still staring at him.

 

“What, Hanzo? Cat got your tongue?”

“Jesse, why don’t you just get a fork? Perhaps I am not the best teacher for you.”

“It’s n-not that, I mean. Maybe I’m a bad student?”

“At least you don’t just try to drink your soup. My brother always did that. It was embarrassing.”

“I see. And I suppose I’m embarrassing.”

“A little. Looking back, it is the small things I was once infuriated about that I remember as if they were fond memories instead of times when I was angry.”

“Hanzo, you’re not still gonna leave, are you? Would you miss me and my inept way of eating?”

“I might be able to be convinced to stay for a while longer. What is lost is lost. Instead, I have a new way to fight for honor.”

 

Jesse got up and retrieved a fork from the drawer. After finishing the remaining smashed noodles, he cleaned up the whole kitchen. Clearly something awful had happened at some point between Genji and Hanzo, and Jesse figured Hanzo could use some time alone instead of cleaning up the mess that had mostly been Genji’s fault. And then there was that nonsense about hands touching. Why was that such a big deal? Jesse cursed himself over it while washing dishes. He’d reacted so stupidly, so childishly, and he’d messed it all up. But then again, Hanzo seemed like he’d realized something. It did appear that he was calmer after that.

Later, Jesse opened the windows in his room and lit a cigar. He sat at the desk in the corner and put his feet up on top of it. He was going to have to have some serious thought about everything that had been going on lately. Everything had been happening so quickly. There was the eventful day, which wasn’t even entirely over.

Realizing that there was still an evening left to the day didn’t help Jesse at all. It wouldn’t do any good to just hide in one’s bedroom until the next morning. Jesse knew he’d just end up getting restless. But if he left the room, he’d end up running into Hanzo, and he’d already made a fool of himself in front of Hanzo. That was enough for one day. It was enough for a whole week.

 

When the cigar had burnt down, Jesse put it out on the window frame and blew the ashes out the window before flicking the cigar butt out. It really didn’t make sense to keep running from everything. Sure, threats and small missions would inevitably come up and be a welcome distraction, but in the meantime it really didn’t make sense to hide. Something would have to be said.

Jesse stood up and closed the windows. One day he’d have to really talk to Hanzo and do his best to come clean about how he felt. The problem was that Jesse wasn’t entirely sure how he felt. Hanzo was attractive and all, but there was definitely a rage within that Jesse wanted desperately to avoid. And then there was the fact that Hanzo still wanted to leave. No matter what, Jesse didn’t want Hanzo to go. It wasn’t just about wanting a relationship. It was about wanting a friend who would stay.


	3. Of Ghosts and Dragons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A haunting voice heard while on a mission brings back memories. And sometimes, it just pays to open your damn mouth.

The mission appeared to be simple. Talon seemed to want something at Area 51, so the reformed, ragtag Overwatch group had to go check it out and see what could be done to put a stop to the activity. It was supposed to be reconnaissance. There were scouts and backup. Jesse figured he’d be one step ahead, given that he was well-versed on Blackwatch strategy. If Talon was as well, they’d be evenly matched. Unfortunately, Talon had other tricks up their sleeves.

Jesse was investigating a hallway that connected to a warehouse. He had learned to be quiet in cowboy boots with spurs, but every time he went around ten feet, he’d stop and listen for anyone who could be around. Jesse knew Hanzo was around somewhere, but he also knew that Hanzo was a trained assassin. He’d just have to hope that any enemies would announce their presence.

Soon, someone did. Jesse stopped in his tracks when he heard the faint sound of gunfire. It sounded like it had echoed from within the warehouse. After the gunfire had stopped completely, there was the sound of metallic clunking. This soon gave way to shouting.

 

_ “It’s gone! The files are- redacted? No! No I swear to god, this project was almost completed! I need those files!” _

 

Jesse could hear the muffled shouting echoing into the hallway. The source of the voice could very well start coming in his direction. The problem was, the voice sounded very familiar. There was no mistaking that rough, deep sound. But while there was comfort in familiarity, Jesse’s instincts told him to run. Run and never look back.

One could only be so quiet while running in boots that had spurs. Gunshots were going off somewhere in the building. Everything became a blur. Jesse just ran. There was no time to think about it, only time to run. Upon reaching the exit, Jesse fumbled with the door. He could hear something coming behind him, but it didn’t matter what. Not anymore.

Outside, there were explosives going off. Some sort of grenade landed in Jesse’s path and gave off a puff of what looked like smoke, but felt like mist on Jesse’s face. He tried not to breathe it in, but in the middle of panic, that was impossible.

Jesse reached the transport where everyone else was waiting- except Hanzo. It was concerning. Jesse was coughing from breathing in the mist, but he wouldn’t let Mercy take care of him. A few moments later, Hanzo came running towards the transport. Jesse looked up. Hanzo had a rip in his right sleeve with bloodstains forming. But before he could get to help, Jesse found himself being pulled into the transport. Once everyone was inside, it was time to go back to Watchpoint Gibraltar. It would take a while, but at least that would give Mercy time to attend to anyone who needed care. 

In the meantime, Jesse stretched out on a row of seats and tried to calm down. That voice he heard echoing… it wouldn’t leave his mind. It didn’t help that he started feeling jittery. Jesse took a deep breath to try and calm himself further, but found that his chest felt like it was burning inside. He closed his eyes and tried to ignore it.

After a while, Jesse heard footsteps. Mercy had come to check on him. He opened his eyes, but couldn’t see past his hat. After taking it off and placing it on his stomach, Jesse made a finger guns gesture to Mercy. She didn’t seem to find it amusing.

 

“McCree, you were coughing rather hard earlier.”

“‘M fine.”

“McCree, it could be serious. Have you noticed anything wrong?”

“Comin’ down from an adrenaline rush.”

“Okay, but did you inhale any smoke? I heard explosions.”

“There was- there was a grenade or somethin’. Thought it was a smoke bomb, but it felt wet.”

“Scheiss.”

 

Jesse was pretty sure that he’d just heard Mercy swear for the first time. It wasn’t going to be good. Mercy quickly went to get something. She didn’t seem to be gone very long at all. When she got back, she stuck a needle in Jesse’s right arm and drew some blood. After a few moments, Mercy’s scanner beeped.

 

“No toxins. Probably a virus or bacteria.”

“So I’m just gonna get a cold?”

“Well, that’s unlikely. Talon wouldn’t use the common cold to fight.”

“Somethin’ worse?”

“Unfortunately, that’s probably what it is. I’ll run some more tests later. You should rest.”

 

Jesse frowned. He didn’t like not knowing what was wrong with him. But it wasn’t like he couldn’t get through a little illness. The only real problem was whether or not it was contagious. Jesse didn’t want anyone else to catch whatever it was, and he wanted to make sure Hanzo was doing alright.

It was hard not to wonder. Jesse closed his eyes and tried to rest, but all he could think about was that shouting he’d heard and the fact that Hanzo had gotten hurt. Jesse flinched when he felt fabric with a very smooth texture brush against his face. He opened his eyes and saw Hanzo staring down at him.

 

“Jesse. Dr. Ziegler said you were ill.”

“Apparently I am.”

“Are you going to be alright?”

“Forget that. What happened to your arm?”

“A bullet ricocheted and grazed me. I’m fine.”

“I saw you, all bloody. You still got blood on your- your outfit.”

“But we know what’s wrong with me. We don’t know what’s wrong with you.”

“Hanzo, why do you care about me all of a sudden? Finally gotten over being so cold?”

“Jesse McCree, you’re the only friend I have right now. It would be a shame if I lost someone else close to me.”

 

Jesse stared up into Hanzo’s eyes. Hanzo’s face seemed to have years melt off when the man wasn’t scowling or otherwise bothered-looking. Instead, Jesse could see genuine concern. He’d finally broken through the metaphorical wall of ice that Hanzo had surrounded himself with. 

But Hanzo was talking like there was a serious risk Jesse could die. This made the panic set back in. Was it really that bad? Jesse wondered if he looked far worse than he felt. He decided it would be better if he wasn’t wearing his chestplate armor. He sat up and undid it. Hanzo helped. Jesse sat up for a while. He closed his eyes again. Something felt definitely wrong. It crossed his mind for a second to holler for Mercy to come back, but that idea faded away. Instead, Jesse found himself being gently pushed towards lying back down. He could tell it was Hanzo’s hand being placed on his chest and then afterward on his forehead and decided it was time to just try to relax. 

 

“You’re warm. Jesse, this is serious.”

“Nothin’ I can’t fight.”

“Let me get Dr. Ziegler.”

“I’ll live. Let me just-”

“I’m getting her.”

 

Jesse started reaching out with his left hand when Hanzo got up to fetch Mercy. It wasn’t like it would be a good idea to start waving a metal arm around. Jesse knew that. But in the middle of the haze of a fever starting to sink in, it was a desperate attempt to grasp for something tangible. 

It seemed like Hanzo was gone for hours. Jesse could still hear that rough voice pounding in his ears, contorting itself into other words- better ones. Words that didn’t describe Talon’s activities.

 

_ “You’re too damn stubborn, kid. But I guess I’ll give you a chance.” _

 

It couldn’t be. It couldn’t be the same person. The rumors couldn’t be true. It would make too much sense, considering all other details about Talon… but there was no mistaking that voice. Jesse had heard it far too many times to have been imagining it at Area 51.

Soon enough, Mercy was back. She started saying something about medicines, but Jesse was too close to falling asleep to fully hear her. The only thing that jolted Jesse back to his senses was when he felt something sharp jabbed into his left shoulder, right above where flesh met cybernetics. Afterward came the chill of a cold pack on his forehead. 

Eventually, the team arrived at Watchpoint Gibraltar. Jesse had gathered enough energy to get himself to bed. He didn’t notice he was being followed until he’d sat down on his cot and tossed his chestplate and hat to the floor. Jesse looked up and saw Hanzo standing in the doorway.

 

“Jesse, you’re supposed to be drinking a lot of water. Yes, you’re supposed to rest, but you need water.”

“Hmm?”

“Did you not hear? Were you not listening?”

“Likely not.”

“I’ll get you something.”

“You do that.”

 

Jesse kicked off his boots and crawled under his blanket. He barely noticed when Hanzo came back with a bottle of water. There was a sense of urgency that came with it, as Hanzo would likely tattle to Mercy if Jesse didn’t drink any of the water. So he reached clumsily for the bottle and tried to drink some without dumping it all over himself. It was going to have to be enough.

 

When Jesse awoke the next day at the crack of dawn, sunlight was flooding through the windows. Looking around, everything seemed like it was in order. The same somewhat-organized repurposed office with empty ammo boxes in one corner. Except about six feet away on the floor was a cot mattress with Hanzo out cold on it. That sure was a surprise. Not to mention a sight to see. A man with an incredible amount of composure passed out on a mattress on the floor looking bedraggled with his hair down. 

But there were more important things to think about, like why Hanzo was in the room in the first place. Suddenly, memories came rushing back. They came back with a rush of uncomfortable heat. A fever breaking. A shaky attempt at a deep breath left Jesse coughing hard. He watched as Hanzo was startled awake. It took a little while before the explanations poured out.

Jesse tried hard to process all of the information. Apparently Mercy had asked Hanzo to look after him. Mercy had anticipated Jesse’s stubbornness and suggested that if Jesse had been trying so hard to get through to Hanzo, perhaps that’s who he’d listen to. Jesse had to admit the theory wasn’t wrong.

 

“By the way, Hanzo, how’s your arm doin’?”

“Sore. I had trouble sleeping because I rolled on it.”

“Shucks. That’s gotta be rough.”

“You seem to have slept wonderfully, considering I did curse last night and you slept through it.”

“I was pretty out of it. Hate to admit it, but I was really foggy last night.”

“Of course you were, you had a fever. You didn’t hear it, but Dr. Ziegler said you have a mild strain of the flu. You should be alright in a few days, but you still need rest.”

“Then you better not get so close. I don’t want you catchin’ it.”

 

Being sick was difficult. Now that Hanzo had stopped being so cold and had started showing kindness instead, Jesse craved attention. This was in conflict with his concern that Hanzo could get sick next. These thoughts faded away, however, when lightheadedness set in. Jesse decided to lie back down. He just had to hope that Talon wasn’t going to cause more trouble anytime soon.

After spending a few days pretty much just lying in bed with Hanzo hanging around for a babysitter, Jesse finally felt pretty much back to normal. He went and took a half-hour shower and came back to find that Hanzo had gone somewhere else. It was probably for the better. Jesse was standing in his room wrapped only in a towel. He shut the door and put on a casual outfit. Or well, what was casual for him. A button-down shirt and jeans usually did the trick, with an added holster and of course, the cowboy boots. Keeping up appearances was important. The warm weather at the watchpoint made wearing his serape a bit toasty, but Jesse put it on anyway.

Jesse opened the door to see Hanzo standing there. He pushed past Jesse, grabbed his mattress, and dragged it back across the hall. There wasn’t even a greeting. Suddenly, Hanzo had become cold as ice again. It wasn’t fair. Jesse had to admit that sharing a bedroom with Hanzo would probably actually suck as it’d have to be kept clean, but at the same time he was probably gonna miss having Hanzo around. Even if it had only been a few days. Jesse decided to yell after Hanzo.

 

“Hey! Hanzo, you ever try having a cot instead of just the mattress?”

“No. I’m used to sleeping the way I do.”

“Could have your arm hanging over the edge. Might help.”

“Jesse, I’ve stopped criticizing your mess. Don’t criticize how I sleep.”

“Was just offerin’. Say uh, thanks for y’know. Takin’ care of me while I was sick.”

“You were asleep for most of it.”

“Do you need me to take care of you?”

 

Hanzo just stepped right in front of Jesse and stared up at him. Jesse stared right back into Hanzo’s eyes. Those beautiful dark brown eyes that had shown kindness and concern were now reflecting rock-hard stubbornness. The thought occurred to Jesse that it was possible he could pick Hanzo up in a bear hug. Another thought occurred to him that hugging Hanzo would probably get him killed.

There still wasn’t any reply. Jesse just stood there, waiting for Hanzo to speak. But all he got was silence. Eventually, Jesse gave up. He turned to go back to his room when he felt a hand grab his shoulder.

 

“Wait, Jesse.”

“What do you need?”

“If you feel I am worthy of such care and friendship, then I will accept it.”

“Gee, Hanzo, you want just bare-bones support, or would you like the full platonic snuggles package?”

“Excuse me?”

“Should I just look after you, or do you accept hugs?”

“Don’t hug me. It’s childish and unnecessary.”

“Got it. No physical affection. I’ll just make sure your arm’s healing well and that I’m here for you if you need me.”

“Thank you kindly.”

 

Jesse grinned. No hugs? Not a problem. He’d at least won the chance to fuss over Hanzo in return for Hanzo sticking by him for a few days. Besides, Jesse knew he was going to try and win Hanzo over entirely. It could take a while, but he was going to melt that iceberg of a man. And with previous attempts going so well, Jesse started to formulate a plan.

It took a couple of days to get the plan in motion. Jesse talked his way into getting a good look at Hanzo’s bullet graze wound. Thankfully it was healing nicely. But getting a good look meant being very close to Hanzo and pushing the boundaries of personal space. With each passing day, Jesse managed to get closer and closer. He was careful not to make Hanzo too angry, though he did get slapped a couple of times.

After a few short recon missions, Jesse was thankful to get back to Watchpoint Gibraltar. It wasn’t really home, but it meant being able to see people who at least felt neutral about his existence. Hanzo at least seemed to care.

One night though, Jesse made a mistake. It was particularly warm, and since the air conditioning in the whole watchpoint wasn’t completely reliable, he went to take a cold shower late when he was sure nobody would be wandering the halls. It didn’t pay to change into some cleanish clothes just to take them off again to go to bed, so Jesse just walked back with a large towel tied securely around his waist.

Of course, there was always the risk of finding Genji being sneaky somewhere, but Jesse hadn’t counted on Hanzo walking back from the kitchen with a cup of tea. The two ended up meeting in front of their bedroom doors. Jesse shrugged and tried not to turn red at the fact that he’d just been caught half-naked by the man he was very much attracted to. Hanzo seemed more alarmed than anything else. Jesse reached up to rest his left hand on the back of his neck and tried to talk his way out of this one.

 

“So uh, golly. This is quite the predicament.”

“Jesse. You need not be ashamed.”

“I-I’m not ashamed, just not used to bein’ seen like this.”

“Really, if you forgot a change of clothes, it’s not the end of the world. Happens to the best of us.”

“Actually, I didn’t think I’d need a change. Should have thought that through.”

“Jesse, please. It’s not like I haven’t seen nipples before.”

“I’d damn well hope you’ve seen nipples considering you’ve got one visible most of the damn time.”

“I don’t need your sass. Anyway, I think it’s time we said goodnight.”

“Yeah, goodnight, darlin’.”

 

Jesse didn’t even let Hanzo reply. As soon as he realized he’d let something so forward leave his lips, he threw himself through his open door and slammed it shut as quickly as possible. Being embarrassed in the first place was bad enough. To let something slip, that was even worse. Jesse stood there, breathing heavily, until he heard knocking at the door.

 

_ “Jesse, please. McCree.” _

 

It was Hanzo, and there was something more gentle about his voice. Jesse bit his lip and waited. Maybe Hanzo would just go to bed, and then there’d be time to plan on how to avoid him for a few days-

 

_ “You’re being childish. If you really mean what you said, come out and face me like a man.” _

 

Jesse gave in and opened the door a crack. Hanzo put his weight against the door and shoved it open. Jesse stood there holding the towel around his waist with his hand, just in case.

 

“Look, Hanzo, I don’t think attacking me is a good idea. If you take me down, I’m gonna fall right on top of you.”

“I don’t mean to hit you or anything. I just want to know if you meant to call me ‘darling’ or if you were joking with me.”

“You want me to be absolutely honest with you?”

“Please.”

“I didn’t mean to let it out. But Hanzo, it was there in the first place for a reason. However, I will have to bid you goodnight now, or else you’re gonna see a lot more of me than you bargained for.”

“Fine. Goodnight, dearest Jesse.”

 

Jesse’s eyes went wide. He could feel his face burning with the heat of blood rushing to his cheeks. He waited until Hanzo was out of the way before slamming the door shut again. It took so much self-control not to start swearing loudly. It was going to be incredibly difficult to sleep after such a reply.


	4. Take a Little Risk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A dire situation gives way to some much-needed communication.

It was three days before Jesse could muster up the ability to talk to Hanzo without stammering. It wasn’t like there was much of a choice. A mission meant communication was going to be important, and Jesse had to be clear and concise. He was assigned to do a recon mission in the far north of Canada. There were some scientists who were rumored to be working on some technology for Talon. Of course, someone had to go check it out. The reformed Overwatch team headed out, and Jesse had to scout while Hanzo covered him.

The frozen air felt painful to breathe in, and the extra layers of clothing didn’t help that much. For a few moments, Jesse had to stifle laughter at how ridiculous Hanzo looked with far more layers than usual. There was something hilarious about a man who usually had half his chest exposed having to wear a heavy coat with a fluffy hood.

Soon, though, the team’s presence was detected. Shots rang out, and Jesse returned fire. He tried to find a good place to retaliate from, but ended up running behind a building. From his new vantage point, Jesse could see a bunch of goons heading for another building. One of them got there well ahead of the others. Jesse tried to shoot at the other goons, but couldn’t quite hit them at such a range. Suddenly he heard what sounded like Hanzo screaming. Two blue ghostly dragons plowed through the goons and knocked them down. As they tried to get up, something hit them and struck them dead.

Jesse ran. As he got closer, he could see that the enemies had been hit in the head with arrows. As he turned the corner, he saw the first enemy with an arrow stuck in his neck. There was a trail of blood in the snow. Jesse followed it to a snow bank where Hanzo was curled up and covered in blood.

 

There was no time to completely panic. Jesse ran and dove for the snow bank. He pulled Hanzo into his arms and quickly tried to assess the injury.

 

“Jesse-”

“Shh. I’ll get you taken care of and back to the transport.”

“It’s bad, isn’t it?”

“Just hold tight, darlin’.”

“He- he had a knife. He pulled it out.”

“Shit. Just hold on, Hanzo. Hold your hand over it and I’ll carry you back.”

 

Jesse picked Hanzo up and dashed back towards the transport. Luckily, Mercy was there to help. She seemed weirdly excited about being able to use the medical technology she had been developing, but Jesse was more than grateful that Mercy would be able to help Hanzo. Or at least, he was hoping there wouldn’t be too much damage done- at least not internally. If something were to happen… Jesse didn’t want to think about it. He didn’t want to let his mind wander and come up with how awful it would be to lose someone he wasn’t even officially dating. He remembered the words so clearly that he could hear Hanzo’s voice saying them in his mind. “Dearest Jesse”.

Mercy didn’t let Jesse hang around too closely, but thankfully whatever she did didn’t take too long. When the order was sent out to fall back, Jesse sat in the transport with Hanzo resting on his lap. The archer had been told to rest, but he refused to sleep. He just reached up for Jesse’s hat and removed it from his head.

 

“Hanzo. Just rest.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“You got fucking stabbed. You lost quite a bit of blood by the time I got you help.”

“Dr. Ziegler helped. It still hurts, but I’m healing.”

“I’m wondering though. Any particular reason you want to lie on my lap?”

“I- I feel comforted by your presence.”

 

Jesse stared straight ahead and bit his lip. Internally, he was just about howling. One of these days he was just going to have to ask Hanzo out. But in the meantime, rest was more important. Even with Mercy’s intervention, it would still be a while until Hanzo would be in top shape again. And of course, there was the concern that something could have gone wrong. That concern was somewhat of a lingering one anyway. Jesse knew full well that quickly patching someone up in the middle of the fray could go a bit wrong. He’d seen agents with serious scarring and chunks of them missing.

Back at the watchpoint, Jesse walked with Hanzo back to their rooms. Hanzo was moving slowly because of the pain, but he was still doing better than when Jesse had found him.

 

“Hanzo, would you mind terribly if I watched over you during the night? You know, for a few days?”

“I would welcome that.”

“I’ll get my cot.”

 

Jesse watched Hanzo a bit to make sure he was still steady and then went to pull his cot across the hall. When he got it over to Hanzo’s room, Jesse looked around to see where he could put his sorry excuse for a bed. He stopped when he saw that Hanzo was undressing in the corner.

 

“Hanzo, should- should I leave?”

 

Hanzo didn’t turn around. He just kept changing into some loose pants that looked like they could have been made of silk. Jesse couldn’t help staring. Considering there was no reply to tell him not to, Jesse figured it was probably fine. It wasn’t like he could see anything too embarrassing anyway. It was just the tight muscles of Hanzo’s back. When Hanzo turned around, Jesse tried not to keep staring, but it was too difficult. It wasn’t just because of attraction- the glaringly obvious red gash just below Hanzo’s ribs on his right side was definitely attention-grabbing.

 

“Jeez. You sure that’s healing nicely?”

“Jesse, please. Dr. Ziegler said it wasn’t deep enough to cause long-term issues.”

“But babe-”

“Babe?”

“I-I’m sorry, I-”

“Do not apologize to me.”

 

Hanzo reached for the scarf that he used to tie his hair back. He stopped his arms halfway and sighed. Instead, the archer slowly walked over to his mattress and tried to lower himself onto it slowly. That didn’t seem to be going too well. After muttering in pain, Hanzo just let himself land on his backside on the mattress.

Jesse quickly made his way over to help. There wasn’t a lot that could be done, but there was at least something. He knelt down to untie Hanzo’s scarf for him. Hanzo’s long black hair didn’t quite flow freely- instead it had a kink in it from where the scarf had been tied all day. Jesse was surprised he’d been allowed to help, but then again it probably didn’t feel comfortable to have one’s hair tied back while sleeping. Suddenly, Hanzo started speaking softly.

 

“Jesse.”

“Hmm?”

“Do you really see me that way? As your ‘babe’? Your ‘darling’?”

“Of course. That doesn’t bother you, does it?”

“No. You are quite the charmer, cowboy.”

“Shucks.”

“I return your sentiment. However, I must say that I expected you to ask if your mattress could be placed next to mine.”

 

Jesse felt his face grow warm. He hadn’t expected Hanzo to be so forward. It took a few seconds to regain the composure necessary for Jesse to run his mouth off faster than his brain could edit the question.

 

“Well, then can I put it there?”

“Please do.”

 

That was that. Jesse dragged his mattress off of his cot and slid it over next to Hanzo’s mattress. The two sorry excuses for comfortable beds looked like a long full bed together. Jesse followed an order to go shut the door and then went to take off his armor. He set it down on the empty cot frame before taking off his boots. Hanzo’s room wasn’t the wide-open range- no reason for a cowboy to sleep with his boots on.

Jesse walked back and sat down on his own mattress. He smiled at Hanzo, who reached over and grabbed Jesse’s left hand. The archer seemed very intrigued by the mechanics of the cybernetic prosthetic arm Jesse had. At first, Jesse was confused. After a few moments, realization set in. It was the robotic aspect. Metal was usually just cold and hard, but it could be used for gentle actions. He’d given it plenty of thought himself before. Though admittedly, the first time Jesse had thought about the implications of having a robotic hand, he’d accidentally destroyed things in his grip and silently thanked his lucky stars that it wasn’t his right arm.

Hanzo gently tugged at Jesse’s arm before lying down. Jesse went right along with him.

 

“Don’t think you want this awkward ol’ thing on you do, you? It’s a tad heavier than a regular arm, plus the elbow’s a bit lumpy.”

“Nonsense. As long as you don’t touch my injury, I would feel safe with you holding onto me.”

“Hanzo, darlin’, you know I’ve been waiting for this, right?”

“It was painfully obvious. You’re just lucky I feel the same for you.”

 

Jesse bit his lip. It was going to be damn difficult to go to sleep with Hanzo’s words on his mind.


	5. Workplace Hazards

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, if you're going to be going into situations where there is a lot of gunfire, don't be too surprised when it ends up being unsafe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> //honestly what in the hell is an "update schedule"??

Target practice a week later had Jesse working on more long-range shots. After a few rounds, he headed for one of the common areas that was really just some old furniture in a large hallway. Jesse looked up when he heard a familiar voice coming from the top of an old filing cabinet.

 

“McCree.”

“Howdy, Genji. What are you uh, up to?”

“I was waiting for my brother. He sometimes passes by here.”

“I haven’t seen him around since this morning.”

“This morning, when you left your bedroom early, because you wake up at the crack of dawn the same way Hanzo does?”

“An outlaw needs to be on the run before the lawman can give chase.”

 

Jesse wasn’t sure how Genji managed to convey an air of suspicion without being able to show facial expressions on his mask. Jesse was fully aware that he had tells, and he knew a fully trained assassin was going to be able to pick up on it. But if he knew anything about Genji, it was that Genji had a sense of mischief buried under all that metal. He’d seen it firsthand, and he’d seen it secondhand- Hanzo was the main target of Genji’s occasional pranks.

 

“So. McCree. You’ve been spending time with Hanzo lately.”

“I have, yes.”

“He seems to be in a good mood. It’s funny, when we were younger, he was already so uptight. I used to jokingly say he needed to have some fun.”

“Well, sometimes even the biggest stick in the mud can have a good time.”

“Hanzo always said I was foolish. But I told him he just needed to improve his outlook.”

“Optimism can help. Well, sometimes.”

 

Jesse sat down on one of the chairs. It made a creaking noise, but it seemed stable enough. Genji jumped down from the filing cabinet and sat on a nearby sofa with his feet on the side table. It wasn’t proper, but hell if anyone actually sat on the furniture properly.

Genji seemed ready to continue the conversation. Jesse fixed his hat and rubbed the brim with his thumb and index fingers for a few seconds before moving his hand to do the same with the edge of his serape. There was no way the conversation was going to go anywhere good.

 

“You know what’s odd, McCree?”

“What’s odd?”

“I used to tell Hanzo that if he would get laid, he’d feel better and his mood would improve.”

“Oh. I mean, I imagine that would do something to boost morale.”

“See, you know what I mean. Perhaps we should be friends. Not just acquaintances.”

“Perhaps we should.”

 

It was time to go. It felt like if Genji was to start talking again, he’d flat out ask if there was something romantic going on. In fact, Jesse knew full well that Genji was going to try to weasel that information out of him somehow.

Besides, obviously Hanzo had been saying something- probably complaining again- and Genji had to have gotten curious. Jesse got up and started walking away. He didn’t realize Genji was following him until he was partway down the hall towards the bedrooms.

 

“By the way, Jesse McCree, thank you for helping my brother. I don’t know what I would do if I were to lose him permanently this time.”

“I uh- not a problem, Genji.”

“Be sure you look after him, cowboy. Make sure he behaves himself, and help him if he gets injured again.”

“I will.”

 

 

Genji’s words almost sounded threatening. The man clearly had genuine concern for his older brother, but there was that protective undertone. Jesse was a lot more nervous about the whole situation because of it.

The coming days only gave Jesse more reasons to be nervous. There were a couple of small recon missions- nothing serious. But still, Jesse wasn’t sure Hanzo was going to be up to it. Yet still, Hanzo insisted he was fine. Well, it wasn’t like he was the boss of that stubborn asshole- and besides, stubbornness was something they had in common.

It was a particularly shitty Saturday morning when news broke that Talon was going back to Area 51, likely to re-scour the area. The team ended up in a skirmish with Talon goons. The assholes fought dirty, but Jesse was more than used to trying to one up foes who fought dirty. He muscled his way through, picking off Talon minions like they were cans on a fence. Every once in a while, he’d see an arrow whiz by and the smirk on his face would widen for a little while. The same damned warehouse as last time obviously still held something important. Jesse wasn’t too interested in going back in there, but if he had to he was going to swallow his gut instinct to run away and just do what needed to be done.

Fortunately, that wasn’t going to be necessary. Unfortunately, this was because explosions started going off around the outside of the warehouse. Jesse started running, but found himself being shot at. Between the explosions and the spray of bullets, there wasn’t much time to think. There was only time to run, and damn that felt familiar.

A sensation of intense pain suddenly took over. Jesse thought for a second about the fact that his entire right leg was experiencing the shooting pain that seemed to just expand out from the point in his calf all the way to his hip. But there was no time to check it out. His running became slightly more of a limping trot and every step of his right foot sent a shockwave of agony through his body. Jesse got most of the way back to the transport before stumbling and falling to his knees. The last thing he saw before feeling something plow into him was Mercy running to his aid.

When Jesse opened his eyes, all he could see was a blinding yellowish light. He felt someone grab his hand tightly and pull him to his feet. By the time the light faded, he’d figured out Mercy was involved. Finally being able to see revealed that Hanzo had pulled him up- and was still holding his hand.

Jesse turned his head to look towards his right. A large chunk of concrete was sitting on the ground. It had plenty of blood on it. There wasn’t time to process the situation before Jesse was dragged off to the transport. The skirmish wasn’t quite over, but Hanzo seemed to want to talk in private.

 

“Hanzo, I need to get back out there.”

“You don’t know what happened?”

“Nah. That chunk of wall, though. Some poor sap sure painted that red.”

“That was you, Jesse.”

“Impossible. Something hit me, but it couldn’t have been that.”

 

There was no immediate answer. Instead, Hanzo reached out his hands to cradle Jesse’s face. Jesse needed answers. What the hell had happened? It occurred to him that his leg suddenly felt fine. Thinking about it gave him the theory that he’d probably been shot. Mercy could have done something about that pretty easily, but that concrete lump? That couldn’t be his blood all over that thing, surviving that would be a miracle. Then again…

 

“Hanzo. I need to know. What the fuck did Mercy do to me?”

“I- I saw you fall and I was running behind you, but there was a blast-”

“Please. What did she do?”

“She had something with a yellow glow, and she used that on you.”

“Shit.”

“You’re alive, Jesse. She said something about scars-”

“You don’t understand. I need to know what Mercy did.”

 

Jesse’s first instinct was to start feeling himself up. It seemed like everything that should be flesh was still flesh. His face, his legs- and then the assumption that if his armor was still on, whatever was under that had to still be normal.

It wasn’t good enough of an answer. It was time to ask Mercy herself. Jesse walked back out and found that everyone was coming back. Shouts of victory filled the air, though there were a few yelled remarks about how Talon wasn’t going to give up entirely. Jesse tracked Mercy down and started questioning her.

 

“Alright, spill the beans.”

“McCree, please.”

“What did you do?”

“I perfected the nanobiology technology to resurrect-”

“Excuse me?”

“Your heart probably didn’t even stop, I mean, the impact might not have killed you immediately and I was right there.”

“Not the answer I wanted to hear.”

“But McCree-”

“Angela.”

 

Mercy stopped talking. Jesse walked away and sat down next to Hanzo. He didn’t talk for the remainder of the way back to Watchpoint Gibraltar. Jesse just put his face in his hands and sat there silently. Not even the feeling of Hanzo’s hand on his shoulder was going to help.

It wasn’t that Jesse wasn’t grateful. He was immensely grateful that Mercy had revived him. But there was always a downside. The only thing Jesse knew about bringing someone back from being almost dead was that somehow Genji had gotten fucked up enough to require a ridiculous amount of cybernetics to survive. And what parts of him were still fleshy were kept alive by whatever Mercy had done coupled with the fact that apparently Genji could have food that wasn’t solid so long as he was careful about it. Jesse knew full well that he didn’t want to experience that. All he could do was imagine how it would feel if his other three limbs were amputated like his left arm had been, or if something worse would have happened. But that hadn’t happened. It still scared the hell out of him.

Upon his return to the watchpoint, Jesse headed straight for Hanzo’s room and flopped down across the pair of thin mattresses on the floor. It didn’t feel good to land on such thin excuses for cushions, but at least it wasn’t as bad as directly landing on the floor. Jesse found himself being pushed into rolling over onto his own mattress instead of taking up half of Hanzo’s.

 

“Hanzo, please. Leave me be.”

“Let me help you.”

“How? Apparently, I’m fine!”

“Jesse, please. Let me hold you. I couldn’t earlier with everyone around.”

“I love you, babe, I really do. But-”

“But what? I’m overjoyed that I don’t have to mourn you.”

“Well, that’s a hazard that comes with this job.”

 

Jesse sat up and took off his armor. Almost immediately, he was pulled into a snug embrace. It was damn lucky he didn’t actually hurt. It was just an overwhelming feeling of fatigue. Jesse allowed himself to be clung to. It wasn’t any use to try and drive Hanzo away, and the amount of attention wasn’t at all unwelcome.

It was tempting to just fall asleep in Hanzo’s arms, but there was a thought that nagged at Jesse’s mind. He’d said it out loud- he’d said he loved Hanzo. And that hadn’t been brought up? Hanzo hadn’t questioned it, but he hadn’t returned the words.

 

“Hanzo, do you love me?”

“Jesse, after all we’ve been through today, after what I’ve said to you since you insisted on looking after me, you question me?”

“Darlin’.”

“Of course I love you. I should have said so much sooner.”

“I needed to hear it. I hope you understand.”

“Jesse, are we a couple?”

“I don’t know, Hanzo. Do you want that?”

“If avoiding it won’t keep you from being ripped away from me, then I would prefer to commit to you.”

 

Jesse didn’t have words for the rush of relief and joy that washed over him. He just stared, lips slightly parted, waiting. Either he was going to tear up, or he was going to blurt out something stupid. He was trying very hard not to do the latter.

But the moment wasn’t ruined. Jesse didn’t break his gaze when Hanzo reached over to stroke his cheek. He was afraid that he looked like an idiot, but his face refused to do anything besides look pleasantly surprised. Jesse was almost sure he could hear his own heart pounding faster as Hanzo leaned in for a kiss. Finally, something started to go well. Jesse held onto Hanzo as they kissed. It startled him when Hanzo pulled away to untie his hair scarf, but almost immediately afterward the tender moment resumed, with Jesse gently tangling his fingers in Hanzo’s soft black hair. The two flopped over and snuggled for a while before it seemed Hanzo remembered something.

 

“Jesse, go shut the door.”

“I don’t wanna get up.”

“If Genji finds out, I won’t hear the end of it.”

“Ha, you think he wouldn’t badger me?”

“For both our sakes then.”

“You sure do have me wrapped around your finger, don’t you?”

 

Jesse squirmed away from Hanzo and went to the door. He looked around a bit to make sure nobody had seen before shutting the door and walking back over to the mattresses. There was a short pause as Jesse unbuttoned his shirt before sitting down. He knew Hanzo was going to pull the shirt the rest of the way off. It was bedtime, even if it wasn’t quite late yet.

After all that had happened, it was more than reasonable that Jesse and Hanzo would be tired. After what they’d been through, Jesse was sure nobody could blame them for wanting to get a head start on a fresh tomorrow.


	6. The Process of Deduction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's wise to double-check how you look before you go out in public.

Jesse still wasn’t used to not having the intense sunlight wake him up in the morning. Hanzo’s room didn’t have all sorts of windows the way his room did. Instead, it seemed Hanzo had an internal clock that got him up every morning at dawn. It was as if the archer could sense the sunrise.

Instead, Jesse found himself waking up alone. That wasn’t really any different from before. Hanzo was always off somewhere meditating at sunrise. This left Jesse to hurriedly put his shirt on, put his boots on, and go find some breakfast. Of course, the door to Hanzo’s room would have to be shut. Couldn’t risk someone walking past and peeking in- the mattresses, the empty cot, and Jesse’s stuff would be a giveaway.

Unfortunately, that morning was a bit too rushed. Jesse made his way towards the kitchen, glaring at everyone who looked at him funny. Breakfast was eggs, sunny side up with some hash browns. Classic and not too hard to make, considering there were some frozen hash browns in the freezer. There was always some sort of freezer-burned breakfast food in the freezer.

After eating the eggs and the sorry excuse for potato shreds, Jesse decided it would be a good time to walk around outside. Perhaps Hanzo would be out there, and there’d be less mystery as to where he disappeared to.

Mercy was outside having a walk for herself. Jesse frowned. He’d been an ass, that was for sure. Fearing a fate objectively worse than death didn’t really excuse being an asshole to someone who saved his life.

 

“Mercy, I want to apologize for my behavior yesterday.”

“You seemed very upset. I had written it off as you just being overwhelmed.”

“Well, I’m sorry. Thank you for reviving me, I guess. I wouldn’t be in a great mood if I was dead.”

“You wouldn’t be in any mood.”

“I- I understand that. I want to thank you though, for giving me that second chance back there. Good things have come since then.”

“What’s happened to turn your mood around?”

“I- well, I guess I have a special someone now.”

“Mmm, that is exciting. Congrats.”

 

Both Jesse and Mercy carried on their respective paths. Jesse noticed that Mercy had looked at him a bit weirdly. Something had to be up. Perhaps there was something Jesse forgot, like a watchpoint-wide activity or a memo about something important.

Finding Genji sneaking around didn’t help the situation any. Jesse sighed and waited for the interrogation he knew would happen. He was right- Genji was still very curious about how close Jesse was to Hanzo. There wasn’t any reason to be embarrassed, but Jesse still tried to fight having a reaction.

 

    “Oh, McCree. You look tired.”

    “I do?”

    “Yes. Did you have a rough morning?”

    “Not in particular. Why do you ask?”

    “Well, you have dark circles under your eyes, and your shirt’s rather wrinkled. Did you sleep in that shirt?”

    “Y-yeah. Sometimes y’know, it happens. I get tired and pass out in bed with clothes still on.”

    “Oh. I don’t sleep.”

    “Seriously, Genji?”

    “No, I’m joking. Of course I have to sleep at some point.”

 

    Jesse sighed. He knew full well where the conversation was headed. He expected to be bothered about whether or not he’d had a rough night, or how often it was that he’d fallen asleep fully dressed. Perhaps there’d even be a question about whether or not he left his boots on- which was usually the case if Jesse happened to be sleeping alone, though that was mostly just slipping back into old habits and he usually slept naked other than the boots. Not that Genji needed that information. Genji absolutely did not need to know that.

 

    “But anyway, McCree, is there a new buttoning trend I’m unaware of?”

    “What in Sam Hill are you talking about?”

    “Never mind. How is Hanzo doing, by the way? I don’t get any chances to talk to him.”

    “I guess he’s alright. Sure seems fine.”

    “I walked past him earlier and he had a huge grin on his face. It’s good to see him less upset.”

    “Gee, that’s good news indeed.”

    “It is. You may be a good companion for him.”

    “Companion?”

    “Oh, yes. You do spend plenty of time with my brother, don’t you, McCree?”

    “I- I don’t know if I’d say it’s that much time.”

    “The last time Hanzo talked to me, he referred to you by your given name.”

    “He did? Interesting.”

    “Well, either way, I’m glad he has such a good friend.”

 

    Jesse nodded and turned to walk away. He didn’t hear any sounds coming from Genji’s direction, but then again, he didn’t expect to hear anything from anyone trained to be an expert assassin. So when Jesse heard Genji’s voice over his shoulder at a volume just above a whisper, he froze in fear.

 

    _“By the way, Jesse McCree, you look absolutely ridiculous with your shirt buttoned wrong. This tells me you put it on this morning. The wrinkles reveal that you were wearing that same shirt yesterday, and unless you’re even too lazy to do laundry or get a clean shirt from your belongings, then perhaps your door is always shut instead of left open like it formerly was because you no longer sleep in your own bedroom and thus your shirts are no longer within your reach when you wake up.”_

    So that was that. Clearly Genji had it figured out. Jesse waited a few seconds before walking away as calmly as possible. It wouldn’t pay to run, no matter how much tempting the idea was. Damn. Well, it was great not being teased while it lasted.

    But it would be awkward to go back to his room and change shirts while still walking around apparently looking like a fool. Jesse ducked behind a corner and looked down. He’d missed a button without realizing it and had his shirt uneven. He unbuttoned it to re-button it properly, but luck was not entirely within Jesse’s favor.

 

    _”Jesse, what the fuck?”_

 

    Jesse didn’t even have to turn around. He’d recognize Hanzo’s voice anywhere. Unfortunately, he didn’t really know how he was going to talk his way out of nearly being shirtless outside. Turning around anyway revealed a very confused-looking Hanzo who had his arms crossed and his eyebrows raised.

 

    “Oh, darlin’. You snuck up on me.”

    “Is there a reason you’re not acting like yourself?”

    “Who said this wasn’t something I’d do normally?”

    “You’re hiding behind a corner with your shirt undone.”

    “Alright, I buttoned it stupid. I think everyone noticed. Genji noticed, that definitely just happened.”

    “Genji? What, did he mock you for it?”

    “Hanzo, he did more than mock me.”

 

    Hanzo started laughing softly. Jesse was a little offended, but at the same time he couldn’t be upset when his boyfriend was finally in a happy mood. Still, it would be good to debrief Hanzo as to what was going on.

 

    “Babe, your brother knows. He knows about us.”

    “He can be a pest, yes. But I am sure that Genji is not our biggest concern.”

    “Hmm? What do you mean?”

    “Technically, what we are doing is unprofessional.”

    “Well, damn, Hanzo. Is there really any protocol? No. In the past, sure. We’d probably get a good scolding.”

    “Jesse, I don’t want this to interfere with our professional lives.”

   

    Jesse frowned and reached out his right hand towards Hanzo’s face. He was hoping maybe some sweet, gentle persuasion would help, but his hand was slapped away. After being called an idiot for still having his shirt unbuttoned, Jesse finally buttoned it properly. It hurt though, being told that professionalism mattered above everything else. He knew that things had changed, and that professionalism had for the most part gone out the window when Overwatch and Blackwatch had been fighting. Hell, the from-scratch team that had gotten together wasn’t exactly built on acting like a damned office crew.

    On the other hand, it hurt more to see that Hanzo was being uptight again. It probably wasn’t going to be very easy to convince Hanzo that there was nothing to be afraid of. The man was always so secretive. Jesse realized that taking the relationship public was probably something that would never happen.

    Jesse walked away. He didn’t know what else he was going to say. When they were alone, Hanzo acted so starved for attention. But it had to be when they were alone. Jesse knew it was genuine- that Hanzo really did love him and really did want to shower him with affection. Maybe one day they’d both be able to take a walk around the watchpoint and smile at each other fondly- holding hands in public was something Jesse was quickly giving up on.

 

    A couple of hours later, Jesse ran into Genji in the training area as usual. This time, it was Jesse who started talking instead of Genji questioning him.

 

    “Alright. Genji, something’s up with your brother.”

    “I talked to him earlier. He seems normal.”

    “You call being uptight normal?”

    “Normal for Hanzo.”

    “Why does he- why can’t he realize that this whole watchpoint is unprofessional? Technically what we’re doing is incredibly against the law. Nothing about professionalism matters anymore.”

    “You really don’t understand. I can tell.”

    “No, you’re right. Enlighten me?”

    “Hanzo has a need to be proper because that’s how he was raised. I was given some slack, but Hanzo will always have a stick up his ass because that’s all he’s ever known.”

    “Even when he was a kid?”

    “Especially when he was a kid. I used to blame him for it. Used to.”

 

    Genji turned to face away from Jesse. Jesse was sure there was a hint to be gotten about perhaps not bringing it up again, but he was sure he’d probably forget eventually. But hell, if Genji wasn’t going to explain further, then Hanzo certainly wasn’t going to explain it any further. Jesse figured that he probably didn’t need to know, even if the question was burning. In the meantime, what mattered most to Jesse was that he had a boyfriend at all, even if things had to be kept a secret for a reason that seemed silly to him.


	7. The Miles are Marked in Blood and Gold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything is really going to shit. Some people are just such assholes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well this one is more upsetting than anything previously but keep in mind this isn't done yet

A week later, there was another recon mission. This time, the team was sent to Dorado. Supposedly a Talon agent was causing problems there, and something was going to have to be done about that.

    Jesse was sitting behind an overturned cart with Hanzo when Genji jumped down in front of them. Jesse was going to question why Genji had a pair of binoculars with him when the answer presented itself.

 

    “McCree, do you need these? I was using them to try to see what the Talon agents were doing.”

    “No thanks, Genji. Ranged isn’t my style. That’s more Hanzo’s thing, hmm?”

    “You are sure you do not want these?”

    “I’m fine, thanks.”

 

    Genji escaped in a very predictable way. Jesse sighed and looked at Hanzo. Hanzo only shrugged. Whatever was going on, it was about to not matter. Jesse peered over the cart to see what was going on. There were Talon agents off in the distance. Hanzo looked around the side and readied his bow. Jesse watched his boyfriend quickly pick off three enemies with arrows. Headshot every time.

    Jesse sure admired that. But there was no time to stand around being in awe. It was time to move in. Jesse saw a flash of gold light near where he was headed anyway. Mercy. That would probably be convenient. Jesse ran full force, shooting any Talon goon that came at him with a gun. He was under fire, that was for sure. The foes were practically coming out of the woodworks like termites out of an old building on fire. Some of the goons were picked off by arrows. It sure was great to have backup. Jesse kept up his rampage, reloading quickly every time his Peacekeeper ran out. He almost didn’t notice the flash of yellow that could only mean Mercy was zooming by.

 

    The order to fall back was given. Jesse wasn’t sure why until he saw transformers on the building ahead exploding. He ran and dove for cover behind an abandoned house. There was an abandoned car in the alley between the houses, so Jesse tried hiding behind that. Loud footsteps echoed past the entrance to the alley. A voice spoke.

 

    “ _I saw red. Where is that ungrateful little shit?”_

 

    Fear set in. That was… that was Gabriel. Jesse felt his heart pounding faster and faster. Gabriel was dead, wasn’t he? There was no mistaking that voice, even though it sounded a little more tired than how Jesse remembered from Blackwatch. It was also the same voice from that warehouse in Area 51. Gabriel had definitely joined Talon. Jesse tried to stay silent until the footsteps had faded away. Coming face to face with Gabriel was the absolute last thing he needed. Or so he figured.

 

    _“I guess blue will do.”_

 

    That was the most confusing thing Jesse had heard up until it was clarified by the sound of a shotgun going off and a scream. _Hanzo._ Jesse ran. To hell with Gabriel, to hell with himself, it was time to run. By the time he got there, Jesse met with the tail end of a purplish black cloud. It drifted off, leaving Jesse angry in its wake. A dry, heaving cough stole his attention away. _Hanzo._ Jesse turned his head and saw Hanzo lying against a dumpster. It was worse than when Jesse had found Hanzo in the snowbank. It was the absolute last thing Jesse needed- to find his boyfriend riddled with holes from Gabriel’s shotgun.

    Jesse knew Mercy had headed down that way. He could only hope that she wasn’t far away. In a heartbeat, Jesse ran and skidded to a stop right in front of Hanzo. It couldn’t be too late, it couldn’t. Jesse dropped to his knees and held Hanzo close.

 

    “Mercy! Mercy, get the hell over here!”

 

    Hanzo was still fighting off the inevitable, but just barely. Jesse figured it was because Gabriel wasn’t as concerned with aim- a shotgun was going to do its business and do it well enough that aim didn’t matter a lick. Whoever got in the way was getting hit almost no matter what. Jesse kissed Hanzo’s forehead. It sounded like someone was coming. Perhaps they’d go down together- Jesse guessed he preferred it that way.

 

    “Jesse-”

    “Shh.”

    “I’ve- paid my dues.”

    “Hanzo, love, not like this. Don’t leave me like this.”

    “I love you.”

    “It- it’s not goodbye, Hanzo. I’m- I’m right behind. I’ll be right behind you, okay?”

 

    Jesse felt tears coming to his eyes as Hanzo went limp in his arms. It was time to wait for whoever belonged to the new sound of footsteps to finish the job. But instead of a final gunshot, Jesse heard the familiar sound of Mercy cursing in German. A flash of gold light nearly blinded him, and when it finally faded he was still clinging to Hanzo. Except now, Hanzo wasn’t so much full of holes as he was incredibly irritated. In other words, pretty much back to normal.

 

    “Babe! You’re alive!”

    “I- no!”

    “Hanzo, it’s okay. I’m here.”

    “Jesse, tell her to put me back.”

    “What?”

    “I don’t- I don’t deserve this.”

 

    A quick shootout followed. An order to get back to the transport came after that. The ride back to the watchpoint started out very awkwardly. Hanzo refused to talk. Jesse wasn’t going to make him. Something was the matter, and if that meant Hanzo was just going to be an iceberg again then there wasn’t much that could be done. Not even Jesse pointing out that Reinhardt had big black circles around his eyes was going to lift Hanzo’s mood.

 

    “Darlin’, look. Look, Reinhardt fell for it.”

    “Fell for what?”

    “Genji got ‘im. With the binoculars.”

    “Oh. He offered them to you, too. Did you know?”

    “Didn’t know for sure, but I’m pretty sure Genji doesn’t need binoculars.”

    “You’re clever, cowboy.”

 

    Jesse sighed and rested his arm across Hanzo’s shoulders. Hanzo leaned against Jesse and closed his eyes. Professionalism didn’t seem to be a problem anymore. Jesse figured it just meant Hanzo was far too wore out to care- and he didn’t blame Hanzo for that one bit.

    Genji knew about the relationship, and he probably assumed it had progressed farther than it actually had. Mercy knew; there was no way she didn’t after seeing Jesse so heartbroken over the possibility of losing his boyfriend. It didn’t matter if everyone else saw or not. It wasn’t like they’d really do anything about it, even if they could.

    Back at Watchpoint Gibraltar, Jesse let Hanzo have some time to himself. It didn’t pay to bother him any further. Jesse decided to go get some coffee, and maybe afterward he’d chain smoke a few cigars in his room with the windows open. He’d still managed to keep his habit away from Mercy, and that was the only reason he still used his room anyway. Jesse had about half an hour before someone found him in the kitchen. It was Genji. Jesse sighed.

 

    “Genji. I let you down, didn’t I? I’m sorry.”

    “What?”

    “I mean, what happened today on the front lines.”

    “Mercy brought Hanzo back like she brought you back. She told me.”

    “I feel real awful that I couldn’t-”

    “McCree.”

    “You told me to take care of him.”

    “If you couldn’t physically protect my brother at that moment then I’m not angry. And I know you would have done so if you were able.”

    “I still feel downright terrible.”

    “Mercy said you called for her. If you hadn’t done so, I would have lost my brother entirely.”

 

    Jesse sat down on one of the chairs and sipped his coffee. Genji put a hand on Jesse’s shoulder and patted it gently. It wasn’t really that comforting. No amount of gentle pats or reassuring words could fix the fact that Gabriel motherfucking Reyes had nearly permanently killed Jesse’s boyfriend, and nothing could fix the fact that Gabriel was still at least somewhat alive but using that for awful purposes. Nothing was going to fix the fact that even though Hanzo was alive, he didn’t want that.

 

    “Genji, he said he’d paid his dues. I was holding him, he said he’d paid his dues.”

    “Blood for blood.”

    “What? You’re both assassins. He’s killed plenty of people. That what this is about?”

    “McCree, if I tell you why Hanzo is the way he is, do you promise to never bother me about it after this and to especially not bother Hanzo about it?”

    “Swear on my life.”

 

    It took a bit for Genji to collect himself. Jesse knew he was going to regret letting Genji tell the story, but the man had offered.

 

    “ _I will give you as many details as is my place to tell you. Hanzo and I had lost our father, and Hanzo must have really taken it hard. Or at least, that’s what I had assumed. See, he wasn’t allowed to express anything. He had to hide it away, to be proper. He ended up killing someone, McCree. Hanzo was always an assassin, but at the time, I thought he’d gone too far. I later realized he had no choice. Our family would have killed both Hanzo and the person he wanted to protect. Looking back, I can clearly see that he wanted to avoid his assignment, but he could not. I found out he returned to Hanamura every year to mourn this person. That is all I can tell you.”_

 

    All Jesse could do was stare. Was that really it? He had to believe it. Genji nodded once to Jesse before walking away. The fact that the topic was forbidden made sense. Jesse made a mental note of the details and resigned himself to the fact that he probably wasn’t going to be able to help Hanzo at all. Ever. There was to be no discussion of it. After hearing what had happened, Jesse knew that he would never want to bring something like that up anyway. The results would obviously be devastating.

    Jesse got up and took his coffee mug along with him to Hanzo’s room, being sure to shut the door after entering. Hanzo was sitting cross-legged on his own mattress, just staring off into space. Jesse thought maybe being cheesy would get a good reaction, or at least good enough of one to get Hanzo to stop moping.

 

    “Honey, I’m home.”

    “Jesse.”

    “Miss me?”

    “You were not gone long.”

    “Come on, Hanzo. I know how you feel now- how you felt when I almost died.”

    “You did die. It was for a few seconds, but you were dead.”

    “I felt you leave. I kinda just want to hold you in my arms, to feel you safe and alive against me.”

    “Jesse, are- are you crying?”

    “I can’t help it. My heart will never be the same.”

    “Hold me, then. I had wanted to leave this world feeling your arms around me, and if I am to remain in this world I still want to feel your arms around me.”

 

    Hanzo grabbed Jesse’s serape and pulled him down. Jesse sat back up for just long enough to get his serape and armor off and toss them aside. Hanzo started unbuttoning Jesse’s shirt while Jesse tossed his hat towards his empty cot frame.

    Jesse put his right hand on Hanzo’s left shoulder. A few small scars were visible. Jesse pulled his hand away and watched as Hanzo pulled his right sleeve down to expose his chest completely. There were a few more small scars. It seemed that as great as Mercy’s technology was at healing, it wasn’t completely perfect. Jesse had looked himself over, and he had what looked like lighter birthmarks on his right side- except he knew they weren’t there until Mercy brought him back. But it was just as well, wasn’t it? Battle scars. Something to prove that he’d fought hard and kept going. A reminder of his second chance.

    Hanzo put his arms around Jesse’s waist and pulled him down all the way onto the mattress. Jesse bit his lip and tried to smile. It was difficult to hold back tears, but at least if they were going to fall they’d be tears of overwhelming joy instead of heartbreaking grief. Jesse tried to maneuver his left arm so that it would be underneath a pillow instead of where it would just be uncomfortable.

    There, in the glow of the nightlight, Jesse just stared into Hanzo’s eyes. At first, Hanzo seemed somewhat uncomfortable about being stared at so intensely, and Jesse looked down for a bit. He only resumed his gaze when he felt his chin being nudged.

 

    “Jesse, are you admiring me?”

    “Can’t help it. You’re too handsome.”

    “Stop it. Nobody has ever said that to me.”

    “You don’t give ‘em the chance.”

    “I suppose I can allow it from you.”

    “Thank you kindly. Don’t think I’d be able to stop tellin’ you just how beautiful you really are.”

    “Well, Jesse, you’re too kind. And too damn sexy.”

    “Don’t tease me now, I’m still shook from today.”

    “Calm down, cowboy. You’re not getting rid of me that easily. I love you, and I will fight to stay with you.”

 

    Jesse let the tears come out. His favorite thing about Hanzo was that deep down, under all that cold exterior and fear of public displays of affection, Hanzo was incredibly kind and loving. Jesse knew he was blessed to have such a great boyfriend, and he never wanted to let go.


	8. Show and Tell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get heated for a certain pair of heroes. Not in a perilous way or an argumentative way, but heated nonetheless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> // 1. what in the hell is an update schedule LOL  
> //2. um. I had to double-check that I'd set this fic to Mature and. yeah. yeah keep that in mind.  
> //3. SOMETHING HAPPENED.

Time off for a while was something everyone desperately needed. A lack of activity meant travel was possible. Jesse arranged for a visit back to the southwestern US and convinced Hanzo to come along. Some shopping was in order- at a gift shop and a convenience store. Jesse bought plenty of cigarillos and a box of cigars for ‘special occasions’ for himself and then a tiny potted cactus as a souvenir for Hanzo. The convenience store had intimate things, which Jesse found handy. After all, it would be less embarrassing to buy such things from a perfect stranger cashier than it would be to snoop around the medical area of the watchpoint and have Mercy question it. Jesse had even made the purchase when Hanzo wasn’t looking just so he could shove the box towards him later as a suggestion.

    Jesse treated Hanzo to lunch at a diner before the two headed back for the watchpoint. Back at the watchpoint though, it seemed Hanzo had plans of his own. Jesse went off to his room to enjoy a cigarillo in peace before heading off to the training area.

    It was about half an hour spent aiming and working on the punching bags before Jesse heard the soft thud of an arrow hitting a nearby punching bag. He turned around quickly and found himself being lunged at by his own boyfriend.

 

    “Nobody else is here, Jesse.”

    “You sure of that, sweet cheeks? You’re not the only sneaky one around here.”

    “We can barricade ourselves in.”

    “What I wanna know is how you knew where I was.”

    “You are an excellent shot because you practice. And you have such a strong arm because you stay in shape. Or at the least, you keep your arm in shape.”

    “What’s that supposed to mean?”

 

    Hanzo just smirked and poked Jesse in the gut. Well, there was that. Jesse had to admit he didn’t quite have the rock-hard abs he did when he was still in Blackwatch, but not everyone was perfect. And it wasn’t like he’d really let himself go- there was just a bit of smoosh over those still-existent muscles.

 

    “Well, Hanzo, you can keep putting those hands of yours all over me if you wish.”

    “Oh, I’m sure you would like that.”

    “You’re being so bold right now. You’re usually so frigid when we’re not in the bedroom.”

    “We’re very much alone right now. It is good enough.”

    “You know, the risk of being caught is half the fun.”

 

    Jesse sighed as Hanzo pushed him against the wall. Finally, a way of being trapped that Jesse wasn’t at all interested in talking his way out of. He leaned forward a bit so Hanzo could kiss him on the lips. But there was still something missing.

    “Babe. This is great, and I love that we’re in dangerous territory, but after a while we should hit the sack.”

    “I thought you liked this?”

    “We can only go so far up here.”

    “Jesse, I didn’t mean we should- did you think- no!”

    “Not up here!”

    “We can make out in the training area, but we can’t go farther than that. Jesse, why would you think I’d suggest that?”

    “Why do you think I was questioning your forwardness?”

 

    Hanzo put a hand over his mouth and laughed softly. Jesse tilted his head to the side. So Hanzo wasn’t being nearly as forward as it sounded? Jesse could feel his clothes getting a bit warm. Perhaps it was a mistake wearing the serape… or maybe he was blushing again. That was more likely.

    Jesse thought for a moment. Hanzo wasn’t ruling out the possibility of going all the way. Jesse tried not to get his hopes up just yet- there was still the matter of communication, which was hopefully going to go better from there on out.

 

    “So, Jesse, what is it you’d like to do to me?”

    “Up here, though?”

    “Start with that.”

    “I’d like to- I’d like to embrace you and kiss you roughly. I wanna give you everything you deserve.”

    “Jesse.”

    “Lemme kiss your neck, babe, make your effort tracking me down worthwhile.”

    “After that?”

    “I want my hands on your hips, I want- oh shit. Hanzo, we gotta be able to get back to your room without me havin’ to hide my shame.”

    “Shame?”

    “My jeans aren’t exactly baggy. Comprendes?”

    “I- oh. In that case, I have half a mind to make you very shameful.”

 

    Jesse’s eyes widened. Hanzo had such a devious smirk that it was almost scary. The half-threat was tempting- Jesse could make it a dare, that Hanzo would have to get him going… and then figure out a way to get to full privacy without getting caught. What a rush that would be.

    But that would be a lot of work, wouldn’t it? Aw, but it’d be worth it. It’d be very much worth it. The very thought of rushing back to Hanzo’s room, slamming the door, and tackling the archer onto the mattresses. Jesse almost didn’t need Hanzo’s help to get into that mood.

    Jesse glanced over and saw some mats that had sagged to the floor. He cocked his head towards them and Hanzo looked in that direction before nodding. Hanzo pulled Jesse over to the mats and tackled him. Jesse started kissing Hanzo’s neck where it met his shoulder while Hanzo had his hands on Jesse’s thighs. It all felt too good, and oh, there’d be something to hide all right. Jesse felt the urge to slip out of his jeans, but it was too soon. _“Not yet, not yet.”_ he told himself internally. Jesse was all too willing to let Hanzo take dominance- after all, there was something about him that told Jesse it was going to be more fun that way.

 

    “What now, Jesse? What do you want from me?”

    “I can think of plenty, but golly, I can’t wait much longer. Let’s go.”

    “I think you’re right. I can pretend I’m not thinking dirty things, but I can plainly see that you’re not going to be able to pretend.”

    “Mmm, be my backup, babe.”

    “I know how to get back to my room without drawing attention. Whether or not you can keep up is the question.”

 

    That sure as hell sounded like a challenge to Jesse. The two got up and snuck out of the training area. Jesse followed Hanzo through the halls, including one Jesse didn’t quite remember ever being through. They had barely gotten back to Hanzo’s room when there were footsteps echoing from a nearby corridor. Jesse grabbed the doorknob and fumbled with it until it served its purpose and then he rushed inside. Hanzo followed him and shut the door. He was chuckling softly, and Jesse found that absolutely irresistible.

    It didn’t take long for there to be a mess of clothes on the floor. Jesse threw himself onto the mattresses and tried to get into the sexiest pose he could think of. He quickly found out that he didn’t need to make much effort.

    Hanzo tackled Jesse and started kissing Jesse’s neck down to his shoulder. The kisses got sloppier, and Jesse could feel a slight chill with the wet trail Hanzo was leaving on his shoulder.

 

    “Hanzo, darlin’, there’s something tucked beneath my other shirt over on the cot frame.”

    “I really have to go get it?”

    “I’m sure you want it.”

 

    Hanzo got up slowly and made his way over to the cot frame. He lifted the shirt and a pack of cigarillos was in the pocket. Jesse shook his head upon being shown the package. Then Hanzo found what Jesse was trying to get him to see- a box of condoms and a bottle of lube.

 

    “Jesse. You sure had plans.”

    “Why, was that more than you were planning?”

    “Honestly, dearest, I was going to please you another way, but if this is what you want, then I can figure something out.”

    “Look, if you don’t want to-”

    “I didn’t know if you were ready. I’m ready.”

    “Alright, Hanzo. Lemme ride you then.”

 

    Jesse smirked. He noticed that Hanzo was blushing a little. It was almost as if-

 

    “Hanzo, have you had that experience before?”

    “N-no. I haven’t actually had time for any relationship like this before. Not that it hasn’t been a desire.”

    “I can slow down.”

    “Jesse, if you show me what you’d like, then I will do it. Believe me when I say that I will stop you if it’s too much or advancing too quickly.”

    “Can do, sweetie. I’ll show you how it’s done.”

 

    Hanzo nodded and unwrapped a condom. Jesse thought about demonstrating a way he’d learned how to put one on someone else using his teeth, but he decided Hanzo didn’t need impressing. Instead, he started getting ready for some fun. Jesse moved out of the way and let Hanzo get into position. There wasn’t time for a moment to pass before Jesse grabbed the lube and got to work. He was determined to give his boyfriend a good time. A good first time, it seemed. That was a little bit of pressure, but not a lot. Confidence was key, and Jesse sure had plenty of that.

    Jesse lowered himself down onto Hanzo, holding himself steady with both hands on Hanzo’s hips. All Jesse could do in that moment was hope his cybernetic arm wasn’t causing a problem. But there was no order to stop, only a nod in approval. Jesse started riding Hanzo while Hanzo worked on putting his hands to use offering more pleasure for Jesse.

    It wasn’t long before the two of them ended up collapsed together on the mattresses. Jesse had flopped over sideways and scrambled to clean up after he’d gotten off of Hanzo. After cleanup, Hanzo had wrapped his arms and legs around Jesse to cling to him.

    While smoking after sex felt like a natural thing to Jesse, he resisted it as that would mean getting decent enough to leave the room and then spending time alone in his own room with the cigarillos. There was no way that would be worth leaving the warmth of having his boyfriend attached to him. At least they’d both had the sense to take care of the mess, though Jesse made a mental note to run his shirt through the wash twice- and that it was definitely going to be time for laundry chores come morning.


	9. You Can't Handle the Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Absence makes the heart grow fonder? Depends on whose absence. And sometimes, people were never actually gone. Not that it makes anyone fond of them when they return.

Come dawn, Jesse was startled awake by Hanzo forcefully pushing him away. Jesse didn’t mind- it was time to get shit done anyway. After getting dressed and making sure he had put on the right shirt instead of the incriminating one, he went to his room to grab any other dirty clothes and went to do some laundry. Jesse overheard rumors of something huge happening and that there would likely be a debriefing. Of course there would. And a debriefing would mean a mission, which meant action. Jesse was itching to get out there and fight instead of inventing things to do around the watchpoint.

    After getting the laundry done, Jesse went and took a shower. He’d barely had time to get redressed before the announcement came over the intercom- a debriefing.

    It was to be in the board room. Jesse sat down next to Hanzo and scooted his chair as close to Hanzo’s chair as he could. It was a surprise to see Ana there in person instead of just in quick glimpses. Jesse leaned forward in his seat with his elbows on the table and his chin on his hands. Something was definitely going to happen if the crew had to be gathered together.

    The concept was simple. Someone who’d been trying to get their hands on classified documents managed to do so. What was going to happen because of it was unclear. Jesse could hear the murmuring of some of the others he’d worked with before trying to make speculation. He could clearly make out that Ana was saying it was Jack. Ana gradually got louder until everyone else fell silent. _“It’s Jack. I know it is. I’ve seen him before. He’s alive, somehow.”_

    Jesse thought about it for a moment. That was true. They’d never found Jack’s body, had they? Come to think of it, Jesse couldn’t remember ever getting closure that Gabriel was dead either. And then there was the run-in back in Dorado. That was Gabriel for damn sure. Something had happened, and Jesse wanted to get to the bottom of it somehow.

    The debriefing let out with no mission assignments. What really was there to do without a lead? Nobody knew where Jack was or where he was going next. It wouldn’t pay to send everyone on a wild goose chase trying to track him down unless there was a clue as to where to find him.

    Jesse decided to head for the kitchen. Some coffee would be great; something he could just stand and drink while thinking things over. When he got there, he found that Hanzo had gotten there first and had started cooking some rice on the stove. Jesse started in on the charm.

 

    “So, dollface, looks like we’ve got some time to lurk around the watchpoint.”

    “About that. I need to tell you something, Jesse.”

    “Is it bad news? I can’t take a lot more of that.”

    “In a couple of days, I’m going to leave for a week. I got it cleared with Winston this morning. Genji is coming along.”

    “Ah, I see. Shit, I’m gonna have to haul my cot back to my own room for a week.”

    “Well, you have two nights yet to spend with me. Unless you no longer wish for me to sleep in your arms.”

    “As if I’m going to get a head start on being alone.”

    “I’m just worried about what happens if I leave you unsupervised.”

    “It’s a week, Hanzo. I’ll deal with it.”

 

    The fact that Hanzo was going away for a while sucked. Jesse had gotten used to sharing his body heat and having someone to tell about everything exciting that happened- even if Hanzo was usually there for anything exciting that happened during a mission.

    Mercy walked into the kitchen. Jesse offered her some coffee, but she politely declined. Something seemed to be bothering her. It was probably for the best to let it go, but Jesse couldn’t help wondering what it was.

    Perhaps it would be something to ask about later- even if ‘later’ meant waiting a few days. After all, Jesse was sure Mercy could use a friend to talk to at least some of the time. And anyway, if she didn’t want to discuss what was wrong she’d probably enjoy rambling on about things nobody else was going to understand. Letting someone go on about their passions usually cheered that someone up.

   

    On the day that Hanzo left, Jesse put his cot back into his room and sat on it. He reminded himself that it was only a week, and that he’d spent plenty of time alone before he met Hanzo. It helped more for Jesse to remind himself that it wasn’t like he was unwanted. Hanzo had later said something about the trip being one to Hanamura. So of course it would have to be something the brothers would do together. Going somewhere they used to call home? Probably something deep and symbolic, or otherwise important. It’d be best to not intrude.

    Jesse shut his door and chain-smoked three cigarillos. He knew that eventually Mercy would discover that he’d never actually kicked the habit. At that point, it didn’t matter anymore. Hiding it meant nothing. But there was something about having the door shut that was comforting. Nobody was going to peek into the room and want to talk about what was all going on. Nobody was going to come ask why Jesse was cranky, and therefore he wouldn’t have to make up some bullshit referring to current events.

    But of course, being a stick in the mud did nothing. Jesse decided to go brush his teeth in the bathroom before paying a visit to Mercy. After all, it was probably about time to check in on the whole cybernetic arm thing.

    In the infirmary, Mercy was working on perfecting what Jesse could only assume was some sort of healing technology. Walking into the room didn’t get a response, so Jesse cleared his throat and stepped a little more heavily to announce his presence. Mercy turned around in her swivel chair and looked up.

 

    “Yes, McCree?”

    “I hate to be a bother, but I thought maybe my arm was overdue for some maintenance.”

    “Oh, of course. I can do a checkup.”

 

    Jesse looked around for some empty counter space and parked himself on top. He waited for Mercy to get some equipment before reaching to take his arm off, but Mercy stopped him before he could do so.

 

    “Leave it on for a while, I should make sure the reflexes are quick.”

    “Anything you say, doc.”

 

    Everything seemed to be running smoothly. It turned out Mercy didn’t have to take Jesse’s arm off after all. The cybernetics were working as they should and reaction time was only a tiny fraction of a second off as compared to Jesse’s good arm.

    Jesse must have seemed rather preoccupied though, as Mercy questioned him about what was going on.

 

    “Well, the whole thing with, you know. That Jack’s pulling some shit.”

    “Oh. That’s right, weren’t you almost caught up in that?”

    “Damn close to having to choose. Glad I got out when I did.”

    “I wish I could say the same. You’re lucky, McCree. You didn’t find out the hard way that your project needed a lot more work.”

    “Are you going to elaborate on that?”

    “I know you saw the results of what later brought you back. I’m incredibly proud of what my project became. You’re not experiencing any pain, are you?”

    “I’m fine, I- wait. Angela, you know I don’t like the sound of that, right? You don’t mean you used that on Gabriel, do you?”

    “I didn’t know. I thought his agony would subside, that he’d be alright-”

    “Gabriel was dead? And you- you realize it was Talon who blasted that wall I was hit by, right? And you realize that whatever is left of Gabriel Reyes, that’s who shot my boyfriend? I nearly lost the love of my life because that broken piece of shit shot him.”

    “McCree-”

    “What did you do to Jack?”

 

    Mercy just stared. Jesse thought about repeating himself, but the words stuck in his throat. He’d gone too far. Mercy didn’t deserve any of that; she’d been doing what she was supposed to do. She was just trying to help to the best of her ability. Who would have thought anything would have gone wrong? If it hadn’t, there’d be no way of knowing the technology needed more work. Jesse saw firsthand that whatever was left of Gabriel sounded tired. Mercy’s information about Gabriel being in horrible pain explained that pretty well. If that hadn’t happened, there was a good chance both Jesse and Hanzo would be in the same situation. Jesse didn’t know what he’d do if he had to see Hanzo in that much pain. It already turned him into an anxious mess to see his boyfriend injured at all.

 

    “I’m sorry, Mercy.”

    “I did nothing to Jack. I didn’t know for sure he’d survived until Ana had said something.”

    “I’m serious. I’m sorry for what I said. It was uncalled for.”

    “No, no, you wanted answers. This affected you, too. I know you looked up to Gabriel before he stopped being able to deal with his anger.”

    “I’m just worried about what this means for all of us. For the world.”

    “Well, I suppose I can tell you that the files Jack has have to do with everything that happened to Gabriel afterward. You’re not the only one who wants to know what went down.”

 

    Jesse nodded. It all made sense. But was going to happen now that Jack had gotten the files? And what if Talon had intel? Jesse was going to have a week to think things over and get anxious, that was for sure. He just hoped that the recent events wouldn’t mean any more significant attacks on the watchpoint, not with everyone there. Or well, almost everyone for the time being.


	10. Between a Hard Place and Another Hard Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flashback nightmares really suck, especially if they just make a memory come back while you're awake. And sometimes you get a blessing when you least expect it.

_“You know, it’s not enough to be a good shot. You have to use your brain, too.”_

_“Come on, Reyes, I’m trying.”_

_“Damn it, McCree, trying doesn’t include trainhopping to get to a rendezvous.”_

_“I got where I needed to be, that’s using my head.”_

_“It’s dangerous as fuck, Jesse. Pulled you out of the gang because you showed promise. You let me down. Again.”_

_“And the fact that I covered your ass and got us out of a sticky situation-”_

_“You could have gotten killed by- by a train. A fucking train. Almost getting yourself killed in a shootout is one thing. But you’re so damn reckless. You’re gonna lose a leg that way.”_

    Jesse woke up from the sound of his body hitting the floor. He’d managed to roll off of his cot. Unfortunately, Jesse remembered too much of the nightmare he’d had. It was an old memory of a time when he had two good arms instead of only one. And what had happened? Almost exactly what Gabriel had said. Jesse lost a limb anyway, it just wasn’t a leg.

    The thing was, Jesse remembered that instance clearly as well.

 

    _It had been a gross, sweaty morning in Nevada, and Jesse had been on the run since 11pm. He was supposed to meet with Reyes in a motel near Las Vegas at 8am. Some con-artists had been pulling a pretty big job with some technology that was more illegal than usual. Turned out there were drugs involved as well. Jesse had dispatched most of the ring, but they’d held him up. It was 8:30. Jesse knew the train schedules from the past couple of days- there’d be a train running right past the motel, and he’d seen the tracks during the chase with the thugs. If he could just time it perfectly, he could jump on the train, ride the outside, and hit the ground rolling right outside the motel. It’d be perfect._

_But it hadn’t gone perfectly. There was a train station just past the motel, and Jesse had gotten his arm caught between the ladder on the side of the cargo train and the train itself. Luckily, Gabriel had seen him because of his bright red serape, but Jesse couldn’t free himself. The only thing he could think of in that moment was that Gabriel was going to be incredibly pissed off. That’s when everything went wrong. The rest of the crime ring had explosives. The train came into the station and the goons put the explosives in the train. Jesse could hear Gabriel shouting, but he couldn’t get himself free. Suddenly, an explosion went off inside the train car. The walls gave way, and between the metal bars of the train’s ladder and the metal wall of the car, Jesse’s arm was crushed._

_And what had Gabriel done? Yanked Jesse right off of the train, leaving him screaming even harder in pain. But instead of flying into a blinding rage, Gabriel shot the remaining thugs and arranged for Jesse to be taken back to Overwatch headquarters. A new cybernetic arm replaced Jesse’s crushed left arm, and everything seemed to be fine. Gabriel had even visited Jesse while he was healing._

_“I’m sorry, they held me up and I was runnin’ late. I thought I could make it up-“_

_“For fuck’s sake, Jesse. I’d have understood.”_

_“I didn’t realize that, I didn’t want to piss you off.”_

_“You could have gotten killed! You’re damn lucky all you lost was an arm.”_

_“I’m sorry.”_

_“Sorry doesn’t cut it, McCree. I could have lost you on this mission. Then what would I do?”_

It wasn’t that Gabriel never cared. He just didn’t seem to know how to show it. Up until Jesse had left, Gabriel had for the most part looked after him.

    But that had all gone to shit, hadn’t it? He thought Gabriel was dead, but nope. Not dead. Instead, what had happened back in Dorado? Something about seeing red. And then something else about settling for blue. Gabriel fully meant to kill Jesse and then took out that anger on the first person he found. It wasn’t fair. Had Jesse figured that offering more support back in the day could have maybe helped Gabriel let off a little steam, he’d have offered. But that was the past, and it wasn’t like Gabriel would have taken Jesse up on such an offer anyway.

 

    Luckily, there wasn’t time to dwell on days long gone. It was the day Hanzo was coming back, and Jesse was anticipating spending time with his darling. But suddenly an announcement came through. Enemy whereabouts were revealed, meaning there’d be a mission. Signs seemed to point to it being the chance to intercept that Soldier: 76 fellow- clearly Jack Morrison after what Ana had said. The mission started out as a normal mission would. Mostly scouting. Communications were working two-way finally, so everything started going even better than usual. It sucked to not have Hanzo and Genji since Hanzo was great backup and Genji was an amazing scout, but the mission seemed to be going well enough despite that they hadn’t arrived yet before the team left.

    Suddenly things took a turn for the unpleasantly surprising. It seemed at least a few Talon agents had also been alerted to Soldier: 76’s location. That was going to be difficult. A message came through from Ana that she’d sniped a Talon agent, but that there was likely more. This was followed by a report from Reinhardt that he’d gotten one but he saw another running along the top of a building. From the description, it sure sounded like that third agent was heading towards where Jesse was heading.

    Jesse was correct. He heard footsteps and made a dash for a better vantage point. A call came in that backup had arrived. Backup? What in the hell? Either way, it wasn’t like the backup was going to be much help anyway. Everyone already out in the field was ordered to describe their location and if they saw anything, and Jesse described the alleyway he’d ducked into.

    Moving forward, Jesse caught a glimpse of someone climbing a fire escape. It was all too familiar- the Talon agent. Jesse drew his Peacekeeper to fire, hitting the agent who then fell to the ground, dead. Unfortunately, the agent had a buddy around the corner. The situation looked like it was going to be a classic western shootout for a split second. Jesse had his gun drawn, and the only hesitation he had was to make sure this enemy was armed. The Talon agent whipped out a semi-automatic handgun. Jesse fired, but unfortunately it seemed like the thug had some sort of body armor on. Next plan would be to aim for a headshot. He noticed that the agent froze, eyes wide with fear. But Jesse didn’t have time to fire. Suddenly, a knife hit with deadly accuracy right into the Talon agent’s forehead. Jesse spun around with his gun drawn, expecting to have to shoot whatever was behind him, but he saw nothing. A familiar voice came from above.

 

    “Honey, I’m home.”

 

    Jesse looked up. Someone holding a bow in one hand was standing on another fire escape. It had to be Hanzo- Jesse could tell by the voice- but he looked different and moved too fast for Jesse to figure out how exactly he looked different.

    A call came through that the area had been cleared and that Soldier: 76 was taken into custody. It was time to go. Jesse ran towards where he’d come from. He could see Hanzo jumping from building to building. Golly, Jesse sure admired that. He was going to have to say something when they got back. But more importantly, Jesse was going to have to find out how in the hell Hanzo and Genji had gotten transport out to the mission.

    At Watchpoint Gibraltar, Jesse got his explanation. If the mission had waited about half an hour, they’d have everybody they could have assigned. Well, at least Hanzo and Genji had gotten there. After all, there wasn’t really any certainty about what would have gone down if Hanzo hadn’t launched a knife into that Talon agent’s skull. Jesse just figured he’d chalk it up to getting his ass saved- more reasons to fawn over his boyfriend.

    But there was another opportunity as well. Jesse finally got a good look at Hanzo- the archer had cut his hair into a rather hip undercut with a small bun at the back, gotten piercings, and found a new wardrobe. It really made Hanzo look around five years younger despite the specks of grey hair that lingered in his beard and the shaved hair at his temples. Oh, the things that could change in a week’s time. Jesse could hardly believe it had been a week with everything he’d been trying to process; instead it felt like it had been only a couple of days. There had just been too much on his mind for Jesse to become upset about missing Hanzo. But hell, he was glad to have his boyfriend back at the watchpoint.

 

    “So, Jesse. I take it you haven’t gotten yourself into trouble?”

    “Almost did, but I managed to resist the temptation.”

    “Alright, I’ll say it. You’ve been staring at me the whole time. I know why, but I want you to say it.”

    “Goddamn, you’re so pretty.”

    “Oh?”

    “Not that you weren’t before. Just- damn, Hanzo. What happened?”

    “In some way, it is symbolic. But at the same time, I find this sort of look to be badass, and I am getting over everything that has held me back.”

   

    Jesse nodded. Hanzo looked badass as hell. And well, if it was helping him get over the past then that was even better. But it would all take some getting used to. Jesse was rather tempted to make a comment that Hanzo’s almost military style jacket sure looked great and that it’d look even better tossed to the bedroom floor- but he thought better of it. The others were out of earshot, but only barely. The reaction Jesse would get from such a comment would likely end up drawing attention. He figured he’d just have to say something later that evening instead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> //while writing stuff towards the end of this chapter I realized I pretty much had it like a point capture where Hanzo was backfill and honestly if I said I hadn't experienced being put as backfill that way I'd be lying through my teeth. But it was an amusing realization, oh my god.


	11. Everything Just Leads Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Interviews can really suck. Interviews with your old boss's old boss can suck a lot more and be confusing at that. And sometimes you just have a really long day getting curveballs thrown at you and all you can do is muster up things that are buried deep in your soul.

The next morning at the watchpoint was interesting. Jesse had hauled his stuff back to Hanzo’s room, which put his morning schedule back the way it had been going. Waking up at dawn to being gently nudged aside so Hanzo could go meditate somewhere. But that morning was a bit different. Jesse didn’t have much time to stretch before his communicator started going off.

    Answering the communicator ended up being important, but it wasn’t exactly news of a good assignment. Instead of having to go somewhere, though, Jesse was told he had to go talk to Soldier: 76. It had been established as soon as 76 was caught that he was in fact Jack Morrison. It wasn’t going to be a good talk.

    Jesse got dressed quickly and hauled ass down to where Jack was being contained. It wasn’t really a proper containment unit or anything- just an old ammunitions locker that had been cleared out and reinforced.

    And there that son of a gun was. A shell of himself, really. Jesse even found it hard to recognize that rugged face- that was Jack Morrison all right. Without the mask and visor, it was clear. And upon seeing Jesse approach, Jack did his usual smirk- the only differences being his age and the fact that there was a wild glint in his eyes.

 

    “Morrison.”

    “Oh, McCree. I had hoped that if I saw you again, you would have grown out of that outlaw phase.”

    “And I would have thought you’d go back to being at least half as noble as you once were, but I see that was wrong of me to hope for.”

    “Can it, you little shit. I was doing what I had to do. At least my past redeems me.”

    “You wanna pick at scars, Jack? I’ll literally pick at yours.”

 

    Jesse just stood there, glaring. There was a part of him that was afraid to shout at Jack- had he done this years prior, he’d be out on his ass… and his whole redemption deal would likely be taken back.

    But having a sass fight with Jack wasn’t what was supposed to happen. Jesse was supposed to get information.

 

    “Well, anyway. Spill the beans, Jacky boy.”

    “What part?”

    “All of it. I got all day.”

    “You do not. I know you. Always gotta be doing something. You get bored easily, McCree.”

    “Then you better hurry your ass up and talk.”

    “Fine. It’s not like I’m not actually here on my own free will. If I didn’t want to be caught, you all wouldn’t have caught me.”

 

    Jack went on about how he wanted to know exactly what had happened around the time Overwatch had disbanded. That he found out Gabriel had snapped due to bottling up everything. That the explosion was an accident and the early technology Mercy had to heal Gabriel had reacted horribly. Jack explained that he found out Mercy had already started working on something that would potentially revive someone who’d recently actually died- but that Gabriel became worse than dead for it. Jack’s voice even cracked when he said that he was sure Gabriel had been suffering mentally before the incident, and that anyone’s mental health would probably be absolutely destroyed after what Gabriel went through. But the edge returned with a statement that such horrible backstory didn’t excuse Talon’s activities.

 

    Jesse just stared. He was sure that if his jaw hadn’t been attached to his skull really well that it would be on the floor. Jack just continued with his story. He had somehow escaped the explosion, but that he certainly wasn’t unscathed. Jack had mourned Gabriel despite their falling out. Upon realizing that Gabriel had become Reaper, Jack took it upon himself to figure out what the hell was going on and put a stop to Talon once and for all, even if he had to do it himself.

 

    It made more sense than Jesse expected it to. It didn’t excuse the fact that Jack had become Soldier: 76 and wrecked a lot of shit and broken into high security facilities, but it made at least some sense. And besides, he’d gotten some information on what had happened to Gabriel. That made the whole Reaper business a bit easier to follow.

    After reporting back, Jesse asked around to see if the information meant Jack would be joining the thrown-together team. Winston didn’t have a definitive answer. Jesse asked others in case they had any ideas. Nobody knew, and a few seemed reluctant to let Jack out of the locker to help on assignments.

    Things were going to be one big sticky situation for a while. In the meantime, Jesse was more than happy to get back to business. That meant tracking down where the hell on the watchpoint that Hanzo had gotten to. That took some time.

    Hanzo was sitting on top of a stack of old shipping containers. Jesse managed to climb up and sit down next to Hanzo. It was quiet for a moment. Then, out of nowhere, Hanzo spoke.

 

    “I have regrets, even now.”

    “Hmm? You need an ear, babe?”

    “Jesse, I cannot believe you’d understand.”

    “Even if I wouldn’t, I’m all ears. Besides, it’s not like I don’t regret things.”

    “You dress like a man who regrets nothing.”

    “That stings, Hanzo. It really does.”

 

    There was quiet for another few moments. Jesse assumed Hanzo was just mulling it over. After all, the man did keep to himself most of the time. And that was fine. Soon enough, though, there was a break in the silence.

 

    “Jesse, darling, if you tell me a regret first, I will tell you what has been plaguing me.”

    “Mmkay. I regret… I regret ever jumpin’ on trains. Still did it until I got here for business, but an accident got my arm.”

    “Really?”

    “Yeah. I mean, it erased some things but it’s still life-changin’ and all. And it was my fault.”

    “Alright. You’ve kept up your half of the bargain.”

    “You gonna be okay, Hanzo? You don’t look so great.”

    “It’s my fault Genji is the way he is. I don’t mean personality. I mean his body. I did what I was told. He wouldn’t be here if I’d refused. The job would have been done more thoroughly by my family. I’d be dead too. I mourned him for years, and I still can’t get over the fact that for once in my life I failed at my orders and things were eventually better because of it. My brother is alive now. But he suffers, and I caused it.”

 

    It was a lot to take in. Jesse had heard Genji’s version of the story, but that left out so much. Hanzo’s version of it didn’t really tell the story as much as it filled in details, though.

    The only thing Jesse could think to do was hold his arms open and offer a hug. He gave a little shrug when Hanzo hesitated.

 

    “Jesse, you know what a monster I am now. I understand if you want me to go.”

    “You did what you had to do, as far as I understand.”

    “But it was wrong.”

    “Hanzo, there’s a part of me that just wants to hold you, and if you want that-”

    “Let me cling to you. Be my rock and balance, Jesse.”

 

    And so the pair remained on top of the shipping containers. Hanzo pressed his face against Jesse’s chest and whined softly a few times. Jesse tried to assure Hanzo that he was safe and cared for. Everything would be alright in the end- it had to be. Jesse knew real life was nothing like movies or fairytales- and even then, those sometimes ended up in disaster.

 

    _“Look, babe, I once heard that there is no normal life. That it’s just life. I’ll help you through it. I’m still here for you.”_


	12. Old Haunts for Forgotten Ghosts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A rendevous? In my Watchpoint Gibraltar? It's more likely than you think. Visitors are discouraged from dropping in.

The coming weeks and missions evolved slowly to including Jack as part of the team. Jesse was still nervous about working with his old commander since he’d gone rogue, but at the same time at least there was some semblance of familiarity. Jack still had the same old work ethic, even if he wasn’t in charge anymore. Things started to fall into place and soon Jesse was getting used to having Jack as another scout for some missions. It was almost like a hybrid Overwatch/Blackwatch mission. Of course, Hanzo was still backup.

    One mission, however, had Jesse catching Jack’s anger for things everyone else didn’t seem to notice. Jesse was scouting and decided to request backup. But instead of getting a sarcastic of “Yes, dear. Of course, honey” from Hanzo, it was a sharp command from Jack to knock it off.

 

    “Requestin’ backup. Hanzo, wanna get on my ass?”

    “McCree! Language!”

    “Jeez, sorry, Morrison.”

    “You should know better than that!”

    “Used to say worse with Reyes around.”

    “Well, cut it out of your professional vocabulary.”

 

It wasn’t fair. Jack was such a buzzkill. Nobody else had said anything, and it wasn’t as if it was that bad.

Oh, well. There’d be time for fun and games later. Back at the watchpoint, everyone would be taking some time to cool down and relax. Staying out of Jack’s way would be easy peasy.

When the team did get back, Jesse and Hanzo disappeared off together towards the training area with Jesse leading. There’d definitely be the chance to let off some steam brushing up on basics. But that wasn’t the plan.

 

“Jesse, did you have something to tell me? Is my aim suffering? You know I do not slack on my training.”

“Didn’t mean to insult you, dollface. Just thought maybe we could get some time together. As in just us.”

“You could have just asked.”

“Thought it’d be more romantic if I stole you away the way you’ve stolen my heart.”

“You have my affections, yet you still act like you are trying to win them. Don’t worry, I still find it charming.”

 

Hanzo pulled Jesse into a kiss. When Hanzo pulled away, Jesse grinned at him. He had some ideas as to what the two of them could be doing. But as Hanzo’s loving gaze turned to a devilish smirk, Jesse realized his boyfriend had ideas of his own.

 

“Ya know, babe, I’m real sorry we can’t flirt over the communicator anymore.”

“It wasn’t real flirting and you know it.”

“But it was an attempt, and now we can’t even do that.”

“Mmm, you are right there. But I’ve been doing some research. I have a plan for today.”

“When were ya gonna tell me, babe?”

“Right now.”

 

Hanzo reached up and gently stroked Jesse’s cheek. Jesse found himself being pulled off to the ammo closet and gently nudged inside. Before stepping in and shutting the door, Hanzo made an inappropriate gesture that signaled to Jesse exactly what he was being offered.

 

“Oh, definitely. I better keep it down though. Can’t have anyone hearin’ me scream, right?”

“Mmm, it’s too bad I won’t get to hear you screaming my name, then.”

    “If and when you wanna rough me up like that, we can soundproof your bedroom.”

    “Oh, fuck.”

    “Hanzo, language.”

    “Don’t worry, Jesse. I’ll get to business, and I know better than to talk with my mouth full.”

    “Oh. Oh!”

 

    Hanzo reached down to unbutton Jesse’s pants and then slide down his boxers. There was a distant sound of heavy, running footsteps, but the two lovers just shrugged and continued. Clearly nobody was going to find them in the ammo closet. After all, everyone else had gone off to the commons or to their own rooms. If someone were to enter the training area, the footsteps would be much closer.

    Jesse was in the middle of pleasure, his fogged mind racing to think of how he could give Hanzo an equal or better time. It seemed Hanzo really had done his research- Jesse had never had a better blowjob.

    Suddenly, footsteps came from just outside the door. Hanzo stopped suddenly. Jesse had been so close to orgasm, but the whole state of mind shattered as he quickly tried to pull up his underwear as silently and stealthily as possible. Unfortunately, the door opened anyway. The voice was gruff, tired, and oh so familiar.

 

    “For fuck’s sake, McCree! I’m not surprised, but I am disappointed that I actually caught you with your pants down.”

 

    _It was Reaper. Gabriel Reyes. And there was Jesse, standing there with his hands suspiciously close to his barely covered crotch._

 

    Hanzo leaned away and pressed himself further into the closet. Jesse tried to step backwards and found himself almost tripping over a crate. He sat down on the crate and tried to stammer out an explanation for why he was in such a situation. It didn’t go very well.

 

    “I uh, I was trainin’ and- and I- I had to adjust myself, ya know how it goes.”

    “In the closet.”

    “Well when ya gotta keep it private-”

    “You know I saw someone in here with you, right? Dodging out of the way?”

    “N- I- Oh.”

    “You are lucky I’m not here for you. Mostly Jack. Oh, that’s right, I know about him. I took a peek at the files.”

    “Reyes, I-”

    “Does Genji know you’re fucking his brother?”

   

    Jesse’s eyes went wide. Of course. Of course there was a file on Hanzo if there was one on Jack. And now Gabe would know who he shot way back when… and he’d have figured out what Mercy was all capable of… oh god. There was a good chance Gabe would be hunting her down too. Good lord the situation was sticky. But he- Gabe had just flat out assumed what was going on between Jesse and Hanzo. Gabe wasn’t even on the team, he’d just… caught them in a compromising situation. Jesse watched as Gabriel shrugged and started to walk away. There’d have to be an attempt to warn Mercy and Jack before this jerk could get to them. Suddenly, Gabe turned around to speak one last time.

 

    _“By the way, Jesse, there are much better places around this watchpoint to play seven minutes in heaven.”_

    Jesse quickly pulled up his pants and dashed out of the closet. Hanzo followed behind. Gabe had disappeared. That sure was a mystery. Nobody could really disappear that quickly, could they? Jesse remembered the purplish haze that he saw when Gabriel had disappeared after shooting Hanzo. There was definitely something up with that. But that wasn’t going to be an immediate problem- first, Jesse texted Mercy that he had eyewitness proof that Reaper was around. The reply was just “good to know. I got this.”

 

    All Jesse could do was hope Mercy would be alright, and that she’d tell Jack. The answer came in the form of a message from an unknown number. “Leave This To Me”

 

    It was a cryptic message, but clearly it was from Jack. After a few minutes, an announcement was sent out over the watchpoint that Reaper had left the area. Jack had left too. Jesse grabbed Hanzo’s hand and gripped it tightly. It was going to take a while to process the combination of embarrassment and adrenaline that he had just started feeling the rush of.


	13. Cannonball to a House On Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> McCree gets some time to think while everything seems to be closing in. He even gets somewhat of a run-in with one of Talon's secret weapons.

The watchpoint was strangely hollow the following week without Jack Morrison around. He’d gone off to distract Gabriel and get him away from the watchpoint. Jesse missed how both of those old men used to be, and Jack had been starting to fall back into his old ways. At that point, he had been more Jack than Solder: 76. Unfortunately, Gabriel was still very much the feared Talon agent known as Reaper.  
It sucked, it really did. Blackwatch had felt like home- Jesse could still do dangerous and sneaky things but with Blackwatch it was for a good cause. Sure, with as much of a recall as Overwatch had entered it was a bunch of technically illegal work, but it wasn’t the same. Jesse had thought long and hard about the situation. Being up to no good was something that should be illegal. Being in Blackwatch was almost like being up to no good, especially when Gabriel would send him on missions that weren’t actually sanctioned. There was always a good reason. There was always a workaround.  
This time there’d be no workaround. Overwatch was illegal and that was that. But in the meantime, maybe doing covert good things would change that. Jesse just didn’t want to face the possibility of making his second chance at life being for nothing.   
Walking around in the sunshine offered some time to think. It was hard not to worry about Jack. It was difficult to shake the horror of seeing Gabe again, especially since it was a whole bunch of different kinds of horror all at once. Seeing someone who shouldn’t really be alive was one thing. Someone who shouldn’t really be alive catching him getting a blowjob in the closet? Worse. That someone catching him being a former boss? Someone who knew Jesse very well? Horrible. Absolutely horrible. Impossible to get over. The fact that it was incredibly likely Jesse would be seeing Gabe again? Mortifying.   
What was worse was Hanzo had been acting a bit shy after the incident. There was no amount of “For pete’s sake, babe! We ain’t gonna get in trouble if ya hold my hand in our room!” that was going to bring back any affection for the time being. Jesse had been going outside on his own rather than walking around and holding hands with Hanzo.  
The thing was, Jesse soon found out he wasn’t alone. Someone stepped out from the shadows and shouted at him.

“McCree!”  
“Genji! For fuck’s sake!”  
“One would think you’d be used to me showing up.”  
“Genji is that- is that instant noodles?”  
“Yes.”  
“Should you be eating that?”  
“Angela fixed it.”

Jesse backed away. The first problem was that he was no longer used to seeing Genji without his mask. Secondly, he hadn’t heard anything about Mercy being able to repair Genji any further. He’d been able to eat properly back in Blackwatch, but some wounds sustained during a mission had messed him up more than he already had been. Jesse still felt bad for Genji because of it. But well, if he could eat properly again, that meant Jesse couldn’t walk in on Genji in the kitchen putting weird shit into the blender. Or, well, end up taste-testing Genji’s creations ever again.

“Anyway, McCree. Since you are my brother’s keeper, perhaps you can tell me why he is so nervous.”

That was a bad question. Jesse just shrugged. That didn’t seem to be enough of an answer for Genji.  
“Jesse McCree, I trust that you haven’t bothered Hanzo about- about things.”  
“Nothin’ he didn’t bring up to me, I promise.”  
“He brought things up?”  
“Look, I know what you said, and I swear I didn’t start anything. If Hanzo feels he needs to confide in me then I’m glad he trusts me that much. I just kept up the act that I didn’t know-”  
“Listen to me. If my brother feels comfortable talking about the past to you, then I am not angry with you. I only wonder if whatever is causing him to reach out for help is why he is nervous lately.”  
“I uh. Can’t help ya’ there, Genji. Sorry.”

Genji nodded and walked away. That seemed to appease him just enough. Jesse sighed and decided to try and walk back to his own room where he could guarantee he was alone. Unfortunately, he didn’t get that far.  
A message was broadcast over the intercom system. There was some destruction at an abandoned military base in the Atlantic Ocean being caused by a harsh battle. Jack was part of it. If an end wasn’t put to the fighting, it would start causing some trouble that would start gathering international attention. 

The remaining agents packed up and left for the abandoned base. Upon arrival, they found wreckage and signs of Talon being involved. It was definitely an all-out brawl going on between Jack and Gabe. Jesse was told to shut up when he made a comment about DC vs Marvel. Genji was told to stop storing instant noodle cups in other agents’ things.  
Upon finding Jack and Gabe, the ragtag team was upset to find that there were a few Talon agents around. The team split up and went on the offensive. With Talon out of the way, they could focus on breaking up the fight. Jesse and Hanzo went off in one direction, but met with trouble.  
Jesse’s communicator started malfunctioning. He tried radioing the others about it, but it wasn’t going well. He could faintly hear Hanzo trying to tell the others about the problem, but that even cut out. Instead, he found that the crackling gave way to the sound of heavy breathing.  
Suddenly, Jesse’s cybernetic arm went limp. That was going to be an issue. And with the inability to tell Mercy about it, Jesse assumed he’d have to turn back. But that was about to be far more difficult than it should have been. A voice came over his communicator. 

“Hola!”

Jesse tried to ask the voice to identify themselves, but that didn’t get a response. Instead, Jesse found his arm lightly smacking him in the face.

“Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself!”

Whatever was going on had to be some sort of Talon interference. Jesse continued to be lightly smacked by his own arm. He could see Hanzo sneaking around in the corner of his eye. Jesse could only hope Hanzo would be able to alert the others to the issue at hand. And that Hanzo would understand that he wasn’t trying to smack himself on purpose.

“Vaquero! Stop hitting yourself!”

This time Jesse’s arm made a tight fist. Oh no. No, no, NO. Jesse thought. The last thing he remembered was a sharp hit to the left side of his head. 

When Jesse came to, Mercy was standing over him. There was a warmth in his right hand. It didn’t take long for Jesse to realize that this was because Hanzo was tightly gripping that hand. 

“Wha’ happened?”  
“Talon.”  
“Got that much. Angie, what’d they do? Are Jack ‘n Gabe still bickerin’?”  
“Talon has a hacker. She hacked your communicator and your arm. I might need to recalibrate the cybernetics to give you use of it again.”  
“But Angela, is the fight over? I need to get back out there, we have to stop them-”  
“Under control.”  
“Is it done?”  
“Gabriel allowed himself to be captured. He’s in pretty bad shape, though I cannot tell if it’s from the fight or just because he was in bad shape before. He does not wish to have me around and will not let me examine him. Jack was hurt as well. He’s stabilized now.”  
“Oh fuck.”

 

Mercy nodded slowly and left Jesse and Hanzo alone. Looking around, Jesse could see that they were in the medical part of the transporter. They’d be leaving soon, apparently with Gabriel in custody. Jesse wondered how the hell that was going to work if the jackass could apparently poof away with a puff of smoke like a goddamn magician.   
Looking around some more revealed that Jack was definitely not okay. Jesse wondered how Mercy hadn’t been able to patch him up completely, but then again Mercy couldn’t really work miracles.   
After a few minutes, Jack woke up. He didn’t say anything, and Jesse figured it was best to leave him alone. Hanzo stuck around, though, and he didn’t seem to be having a good time watching Jesse only manage with one arm. Jesse knew this was because Hanzo hadn’t been around when the arm was lost in the first place, or the times it was taken off for maintenance. 

“Oh, Hanzo, I still have one good arm to-”  
“McCree, you piece of shit, if you finish that line I’ll come over there and clobber you one.”  
“Yes, Morrison.”

 

And that was the end of that. Jack must’ve been feeling a little better- and immensely cranky. Jesse knew he’d have to stay out of Jack’s way for a while, especially if he was pretty injured. Getting one of Mercy’s patients worked up was a great way to earn the doctor’s wrath.  
Jesse sat up all the way and sighed. He could get used to having one good arm again. It was just entirely different to have the cybernetic one just hanging there all limp. He was so close to just having Mercy just take the damn thing off… but putting it back on would just mean it would definitely have to be recalibrated.

“Jesse, are you going to be alright?”  
“Don’t seem to be too badly concussed. So yeah, Hanzo. I’ll be fine.”  
“Your arm.”  
“What of it? Did I ever tell you what happened to the original?”  
“No, you didn’t.”  
“It had to be amputated because it was crushed. It didn’t really have bones left, ya’ know?”  
“H-how? Jesse, what could cause that?”  
“Train. Got stuck after I hopped a train, and uh, long story short it crushed my arm.”

Hanzo wrapped his arms around Jesse and leaned in close to kiss his cheek. Jack started shouting from his bed about how he’d been told the story differently- apparently Gabe had told him that Jesse’s arm had been crushed between two vehicles in an accident on that mission. Jack also shouted about how he knew Jesse had been told to stay off the outside of trains before that. Of course, the same old lecture as before. Jesse rolled his eyes and kissed Hanzo’s forehead. There was no way that making the relationship obvious was going to piss off Jack more than he already was.


	14. Send Lawyers, Guns, and Money- The Shit Has Hit the Fan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes the truth is that people you once cared about could very well be facing a fate worse than death. And sometimes there's hope that things will turn out alright despite everything being awful.

Waking up the next morning was interesting. Jesse was surprised to see Hanzo still lying next to him. Except Hanzo was awake instead of being soundly asleep. It was tender mornings that reminded Jesse of how much things had changed since he’d first met Hanzo. It was great to be sticking together instead of fighting, and Jesse was more than grateful that he’d gotten himself a wonderful boyfriend instead of just standing by and letting Hanzo be a loner on the watchpoint. Even if Genji and Mercy knew about the relationship and now Jack had seen… it didn’t really matter, did it? Things had gotten better and Jesse had someone to rely on who he could learn to be more organized and dependable for.  
Things unfortunately had to stop being so sweet. Jesse was called for interrogation duty- again. But of course, he wouldn’t have to go talk to Jack. Instead, he’d be sent to talk to Gabriel. Gabriel refused to have anyone else near him in his makeshift cell- the same locker Jack had been stuck in- except Jesse.  
Jesse got dressed and made his way over to see what was going on. He was going to casually walk over to the locker before he stopped suddenly and backtracked a couple of steps.  
Something was incredibly off. It couldn’t be Gabriel Reyes in there. Sure, he was Reaper, but whatever that was in the locker sure was a sight. Someone with a black cloak and hood, a mask that looked a bit like how Jesse remembered cow skulls in westerns but at the same time bird-like… and occasionally little puffs of purple smoke that would cause the person to flinch.  
A voice coming from behind the mask confirmed that yeah, that had to be Gabriel.

“McCree. I want you to know first off that I am only in here because I’m allowing it.”  
“That’s what Jack said when they sent me to talk to him.”  
“But he didn’t have any way to slip through the bars, right?”  
“I just figured he’s ripped enough to bust through.”  
“McCree, if I was in my best shape, I could float on through these bars and strangle you. You get that, right? If I wanted to, I could. But I don’t want to, you got that?”  
“Uh. Sure. Anyway. What are you up to? What’s Talon up to? Why’ve you come back here, and what’s your new beef with Morrison?”

Gabriel sighed and took off his mask. Jesse backed up a couple more steps and almost tripped over his own feet. As much as the face behind the mask did look like it belonged to Gabriel Reyes, it was battered and scarred and it seemed as if the scars were barely able to conceal that part of his lips were gone on one side. It was scary.  
Jesse just stood there as the explanations started pouring out.

_“You don’t understand because you haven’t been told. And you didn’t need to know. You still don’t. But I know the thrown-together management wants you to report back to them. So I’ll give it to you as straight as someone like me can put it. Jack was going to eliminate Blackwatch. Why? Because I was being ‘too reckless’ as he put it. I realized that you reminded me of me- don’t say it- and you got out before anything could happen. You realize though, I couldn’t let him kill my position. He was apparently trying to save himself from any fallout by taking everyone else down first. He kept saying it was for everyone’s good but I didn’t believe him. I had wanted to confront him but he kept avoiding it. And then yes, we fought. I saw the reports. That the explosion was an accident and that Jack wasn’t trying to get rid of the only witness left that he was going to destroy Overwatch from the inside out starting with Blackwatch to avoid an incident. Because he got pulled around like a puppet after he’d started to give a shit about people trying to keep down those who do what’s right when it isn’t in the interest of a select few. Angela tried to get me back, curse that- ow, fuck. I. I’m dying, McCree. Dying and living. Talon promised me so much. I am a fucking ghost now, a living, breathing ghost. I can vanish into smoke because my body’s so fucked over I almost turn to liquid. Angela’s bullshit revival technology, the nanobiology, it reacted bad. Talon’s shit made it worse. And now, now with what Jack pulled on that base- ugh. Usually I can heal better than this. Not now.”_

Gabriel sat down. Jesse stepped forward and watched his former boss. Gabriel was just sitting there, shaking. It was horrible. Jesse didn’t know what to do, so he just stood there. He knew Gabriel wasn’t going to want anyone touching him, and it was getting clearer and clearer that the only reason the dangerous man was still in the locker was that it would hurt him too much to escape. And of course, there’d be no convincing him to let Mercy help him out.  
It was a few minutes before Gabriel slowly stood up again. He leaned against the locker door and stared at Jesse with tired eyes. He just nodded the same way he always did after a good mission. Except this time it was unsettling. Was it a surrender? Jesse knew there’d be no reason for Gabriel to just surrender. He never did that. There was always a way to get through any problem. There was, however, the possibility that it wasn’t surrendering to agree to play nice- that maybe Gabe was in the same predicament Jack was. Maybe agreeing to a shaky truce would be the next step forward to a goal of making things right in the world. After all, sketchy things were happening, and even a shaky, motley excuse for an Overwatch recall would help fix that. Jesse did remember how similar the two older men were back in the day.  
Still, Gabriel was dangerous. That was clear as day. Maybe he wouldn’t be quite as dangerous while it would nearly kill him to try and escape, but there was no doubt that he’d try and start shit as soon as he was healed enough to do damage. Jesse sighed. He’d have to go and give the report, tell Winston what Gabriel had said, and hope things worked out. Maybe they wouldn’t, who knew?  
A few hours later, the report was filed. Jesse went to his own room and pulled out a guitar he’d picked up once on an off day and tried to get back into old habits. He’d taken to playing the guitar left-handed in Blackwatch since his right hand was far better at chords than his left hand was. And well, he didn’t need to worry about needing a pick anymore thanks to having a metal thumb.  
After a while, the somewhat out-of-tune instrument rendered its chords in a way satisfactory to its owner. Jesse started humming before remembering how the words went and how to improvise a few better ones.

_“Walkin’ due south out of Roanoke, caught a trucker outta Philly ‘n had a nice long toke. But he’s headed west from the Cumberland Gap to Johnson City, Tennessee. And I gotta get a move on before the sun I hear my archer callin’ my name and I know that he’s the only one. And if I die in Raleigh, at least I will die free.”_

Jesse sighed and stopped playing. It wasn’t the same anymore, even if the songs were old and comforting any other time. He didn’t like being stuck in the situation he was in. He’d looked up to Gabriel as if he was a father figure, and now that hot-tempered man was in his own words, a living ghost. Not to mention that someone who had once been so proud of him would probably kill him if given the chance.  
The next attempt at coping was to grab a cigarillo and smoke it with the windows open. Even that wasn’t doing anything to make the nervousness subside. Unfortunately, Jesse had forgotten to close the door. He was startled by the sound of bootheels stomping in his doorway.

“You absolute- I don’t know how to- McCree! YOU LIED!”  
“Uh. Angie? It’s not what-”  
“Don’t you ‘Angie’ me, I’ll- ohhh! I cannot believe you’d be- Scheisskopf!”  
“Please don’t kill me, I swear it was just the one.”  
  
Mercy stormed off. Jesse quickly snuffed the butt of his cigarillo and tossed it out the window. He grabbed his guitar and got the hell out of his room. Mental images kept flashing in his mind of Mercy hauling ass and beating him over the head with a chair.

Jesse laid low the next few days trying to avoid Mercy. When he saw Genji around, Genji would mime smoking to taunt him. Clearly Mercy had told him. That wouldn’t be good. Jesse begged Genji to not call Mercy on him or tell her where he was hiding. Thankfully Genji promised not to.  
A meeting was called and it was revealed that Gabriel had agreed to work with Overwatch and call off any further assaults on them from Talon. He didn’t promise that Talon would cut out their activity entirely, but he did assure those present that he wouldn’t be giving them orders about anything for the time being. A sketchy truce was made, but Jesse figured it sounded more like having to walk on a glass floor in heavy boots. However, at least it meant he wouldn’t have to fight against Gabriel anymore. And well, Jack agreed to at least act civil, so there was that. It honestly seemed as if the two had gotten the shenanigans out of their systems and could settle down. Maybe eventually something could be done to help Gabriel out a little- maybe if he wasn’t in such awful shape he’d calm down and start acting at least a little bit like himself again.

Later, Jesse went to the common area with his guitar. He hoped that whatever was going on would preoccupy Mercy enough to keep her off his back. In the meantime, he was going to get back to his regular activities. Hanzo was sitting on one of the chairs, and Genji was sitting on a filing cabinet as usual.  
Gabriel walked over, apparently drawn in by the sound of a guitar being strummed. Jack stood in an archway and watched.

  
“Hey, McCree!”  
“Morrison?”  
“Are you gonna serenade that hipster boy?”  
“What?”  
“Oh, come on, everyone on the watchpoint knows you two are a thing.”  
“Seriously?”

Everyone except Hanzo nodded. Hanzo just buried his face in his hands. Even Tracer nodded as she walked past. They all knew? And it was probably obvious the whole time?

“Besides, McCree, I heard from Reyes that-”  
“Jack! And besides, he said there were better places to- uh. Never mind.”  
“You know what, if you promise to never finish that sentence, I promise to never tell the others what Reyes saw.”

Jesse just nodded and got to strumming his guitar. He did wonder a bit as to why he got Jack to stop so easily, and why he’d blushed- but the realization of what the two old men had gotten up to wasn’t something Jesse wanted to dwell on. Instead, he just played and sang. When Hanzo uncovered his face and smiled, Jesse smiled right back. He was damn thankful his boyfriend wasn’t so used to old country, even if those who had known him for years were all worn out of his music taste and movie preferences. That’s all he needed- someone who’d love him and not get tired of it. And of course, Jesse would never get tired of spending time with Hanzo, or hearing his voice, or gazing into his eyes. Suddenly, even with the subtle lyric changes Jesse had been improvising, he found a new confidence to just let his heart do the talking.

  
_“So rock me honey, like a wagon wheel, rock me sugar, any way you feel. Hey, darlin’ rock me. Rock me, sweetheart like the wind and the rain, rock me baby like a southbound train. Hey, Hanzo, rock me.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter should tie up loose ends and bring things to a reasonable conclusion. I am planning on working on something that would be somewhat of a companion fic that would take place after the end of this... but it won't be following McCree the way this one does. He'd be more of a supporting character there.
> 
>  
> 
> Also yes, I did actually listen to the Old Crow Medicine Show version of "Wagon Wheel" for at least 2 hours on repeat. I don't entirely know why because it wasn't actually necessary.


End file.
